


From The Other Side of Things

by Grace Kay (Drummerchick7)



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F, Gen, Romance, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-21
Updated: 2013-10-21
Packaged: 2017-12-30 02:40:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 40,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1013081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drummerchick7/pseuds/Grace%20Kay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What would be the concerns of a Regular Joe (or in this case, Joan) who worked on the Normandy? This is her story - brought to you at Diablo_Kades' insistence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this fic more than a year ago. I've been sitting on it, sure it wasn't good enough to publish, and then I went ahead and shared it with Diablo_Kades a couple of months ago. She insisted that it's good enough, and that people would wanna read it, so that means it's also good enough to repost here. I made some pretty drastic edits as I went, and it's interesting going back and seeing how my writing has improved since I started publishing things about a year ago.
> 
> This fic started because I was interested in exploring things from the POV of a sort of normal person on the Normandy, so I created an OC. I also was getting frustrated with everyone important on that ship being single, or with dead husbands (hi, Steve), so they'd be available for Shep, so I also wanted to explore being on the ship with a spouse off the ship. But then I got this idea to have it not be marital bliss, and, well, that's how this came about. I wasn't originally intending for it to have a romance, but then that's sort of what it turned me completely by surprise, honestly. I was just writing it for my own enjoyment at that point, so I just kinda went with it. Let me know what you think, and if you like this OC. And I hope you appreciate it, because I had to dig this thing off my old broken computer.
> 
> Lastly, you may recognize some names and other elements from "Cowboys, Horses, and Girls," and that's because, since I never planned on publishing this, I pilfered some names and such from here for that fic. So. Without further ado - onward!

**Chapter 1**

"Engineer Halanz. Halanz?" Her eyes focused and her head turned, seeking the voice calling to her.

"Yes?"

"Pay attention, soldier. Your Commanding Officer is on deck." Her eyes swept the room, and sure enough, there she was, the hero they were all looking to for hope, Commander Shepard.  _And I've been caught zoning out. Cock._  She saluted, but Shepard just smiled a little.

"At ease." She broke her salute and stood at parade rest, arms to her sides. Shepard mirrored her, but with her hands clasped behind her back. "You can go back to work – Adams was just briefing me on the state of the ship after the retrofit. Just try to pay attention, alright?"

"Yes, Commander," she said, wanting so hard to kick herself. Adams' eyes twinkled as he suppressed a smile, and he turned to Shepard as she turned back to her workstation. She looked at her screen, but again, all she could see were blue eyes staring into her own.

* * *

She jabbed her food with her fork. "I can lend you a pistol if the fork isn't doing the trick." She looked up as James took a seat across from her. They were in the mess hall, and she was trying to eat something before her duty-shift started. "I still don't understand why you  _prefer_  the night shift," he said, shaking his head at his plate before digging in.

"It's quiet. I don't have to deal with you," she said, smiling slightly at him. "Plus, there are only two of us – it's not like Adams was gonna choose it willingly. I don't mind, so I just took it."

"You've got me there," he said. She continued to stab dispassionately at her food, chin in her hand, elbow on the table. "I heard you met our CO today," he tried, wanting to draw her out, but not being particularly gifted with words.

"Yeah, that was a laugh," she said, sitting up and setting her fork down. "She caught with my head a million miles away."

"Sheila?" She nodded. "Denna…"

"James, it's alright. I'll be fine. I just… It would be nice if my wife would give me the damn time of day." She picked the fork back up and began stabbing at her food once more. "I got a transcript today of her deposition. She's taking Baxter. And I can't do a damn thing about it."

"Damn, that's low. She leaves you and takes your dog? You got him when he was a puppy, before you even lived with her, right?"

"Tell me about it." Neither of them mentioned the fact that the woman could have had better timing, what with the war. A beeping came from her omni-tool. "Shit. All right, I gotta go. Finish this for me?" She shoved her plate at him, and he pulled it toward himself possessively. "Thanks for getting that out of me, Diego. Maybe I can focus now." She hurried away before she could get an earful for using the nickname around other people.

When she got to Engineering, Adams was waiting for her. "Engineer Halanz, I trust you'll be able to pay attention while you're in here alone?"

She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. "Yes, sir. I apologize for that, sir. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Make sure it doesn't. You need to take care of yourself – you're no good to anyone if you don't." He patted her shoulder once –  _more awkward than her father's hugs_  – and walked out after handing her a datapad with her evening's duties. She got to work right away, not wanting to lose herself in the blue eyes that seemed to live in her console again.

* * *

Her first night in Engineering alone had actually been pleasant. She asked EDI to play some music, and had a lovely conversation with the AI about rock 'n roll. At one point she was talking in between welding, crawling in under the flooring to take care of safety measures with wires that had a tendency to come out of place. They'd been low in priority during the retrofit, but now these were the kinds of things left to do. By her. At night. With no one else around. She didn't mind, though. As technically smart as she was, Denna preferred working with her hands. And if it involved a soldering iron and a torch, even better.

Adams showed back up at the end of her shift. He seemed a little tired, but alert. "Good morning, sir," she said before asking EDI to halt the music. "These twelve-hour shifts are going to get old soon, I imagine," she said, falling right back into their normal bantering manner from when they worked on the retrofit together, the only two engineers in this section.

"You've got that right," he said, opening the report she'd sent to him not ten minutes before his entrance on what she'd accomplished while she'd had Engineering to herself. "I heard we might be getting a few more Engineering crew to help us out once we get to the Citadel. So we just have to hold out until then – just another three shifts. I'll look at how we can arrange the shifts to be more manageable, and give us all more time for sleep, and maybe even a little R and R. But until then, nose to the grindstone."

"That would be damned peachy, sir. And speaking of sleep, I think I'm going to go grab some. Anything you need before I sign off?"

"Nothing more. But Halanz," he said, and she turned to face him from the door. "I'm sorry. About your wife. I didn't realize you would still be going through it, even though the Reapers have hit."

"Thank you, sir, though I think I'm going to have to go punch James before I go to bed for mentioning that to you." She smiled. "I'm sorry I unloaded all of that on you while we worked together before we left Earth."

"Hardly. You only even said anything because you had to take that day off to do your deposition. Your three sentences regarding your divorce were more than professional, don't worry about that. But I hope you're able to resolve it without too much heartache."

"Thank you, sir."  _My wife is leaving me, sir – heartache kinda comes with the territory_. "Have a good morning, sir. And don't ask EDI what we were discussing unless you want her to recite our conversation about rock 'n roll."

He laughed as she left the room and headed into the elevator. She wasn't sure where to go, though. She could go harass James in the cargo bay. She could go straight to bed. She could go get something to eat. She decided on Deck 3 – two of those three options were available there, and if she caught him early enough, the harassing James part would be available there, too.

* * *

The Normandy was docked at the Citadel, and Adams had shooed her away. Something about having been working tirelessly since they left Earth. So now she was wandering the Presidium until James was done at the hospital with Shepard. It was weird to see so many aliens again – it had been a year since she'd been on the Citadel, and in that time, she's seen almost exclusively humans, except for Dr. T'Soni joining them the day before. She used to live here – all her stuff was still in the apartment she'd shared with her wife. Her dog was there, too. She got lost in these thoughts, and others, and had stopped by a railing overlooking an artificial river.

Samantha Traynor saw her from far away and made her way over. She called her name, but got no response until she was five feet away. That's when Denna jumped and looked around wild-eyed. When she saw Traynor, she smiled apologetically, her hand at her heart dramatically. "Christ, Samantha! You scared me! Do you make a habit of sneaking up on people?"

"Well, if you had heard me when I was calling to you a minute ago, I wouldn't have snuck up on you." She grabbed the railing, too, placing a foot on the lower railing. "Do you make a habit of getting so lost in thought that you can't hear what's going on around you?"

"Seems like I do lately," said Denna, but didn't elaborate further. She didn't know the Communications Specialist well, even though they worked on the Normandy during the retrofit together. Most of their interactions had been Denna helping Traynor with hardware stuff while she updated the comm. systems. Traynor turned, leaning her back against the railing. Denna was seized by the sudden urge to move in front of her, circle her arms around her waist, grab her delicious ass. She shook her head and the urge vanished. Instead, she also turned, hoisting herself so she sat on the rail.

"Did you come to the Presdium for anything in particular?" Traynor crossed her arms over her chest, looking to Denna. Then she seemed to give up and turned back around to her original position. She looked over the river. "Other than the view?"

Denna thought for a minute. Traynor didn't know about the troubles she was having. She didn't mind her company in the slightest, though. Maybe she should tell her? She was spared having to make that decision, though, because she could see James approaching. She nodded in his direction. "Meeting Lt. Vega. Care to join us? He owes me a beer for disclosing something to Adams that he really shouldn't have. I could make him buy you one, too."

"I'd love to, but Purgatory isn't exactly my scene…"

"Oh, I hate that place. No, we're going to a little dive bar in the Wards. They serve excellent tacos and tequila."

"Oh! Well, in that case, if you're sure you don't mind the company…"

Denna jumped from the rails. "Of course I don't! And I know James doesn't, either. C'mon." They headed over to him together.

* * *

"Not right now, Diego."

"Bullshit. You can't put this off. You shouldn't have tried to get me to not make you by inviting someone else." He looked over at Traynor, who was now thoroughly confused. "No offense, Traynor. I wanna hang out with you. But Denna has some  _things_  to take care of first. You don't have to come along if you don't want."

"Well, now I'm curious. What are we taking care of?"

"We hafta go-"

Denna interrupted him. "Let's get it over with. You can explain while I'm inside." And she stalked off, steam practically coming out of her ears. James rolled his eyes at Traynor, who stifled a giggle. They didn't have far to go. They came to a set of apartments, and stopped outside of one. "You guys stay here. I'm gonna need your help lugging my shit. Hopefully we can sneak the important stuff on the ship." She entered a code on the door, and it opened. They got a brief picture of a barking dog jumping into the engineer's arms before the door shut again.

"So… Care to explain, Lieutenant?" Traynor crossed her arms and looked up at him, awaiting an answer.

"This is, uh… Damn, I didn't know it would be awkward." Traynor just raised her eyebrows at him in question. "Well, this apartment – she used to share it with her wife before she rejoined the Alliance Navy."

"Oh! I didn't know she was married! Should we really be waiting here while she visits her wife while on shore leave?"

"Well, that's the thing. When she went to Earth to serve again, Sheila kinda lost it, as far as I can tell. She filed for divorce, and, well… leaving out a lot of detail that she can tell you if she wants, Sheila still wants it, which we figure means she's moved on and has a new girlfriend. Denna's here to get her shit out. Well, the important shit, anyway. And it's the first time they've seen each other since she left for Earth – a year ago. We're, uh, emotional support right now."

"Oh, dear, the poor thing," Samantha said, looking to the door. Then her eyebrows knit. "And we're also muscle? Is she going to need help with a lot of things?"

"If I know her, she's going to want to take her guitar, mandolin, and a couple of hand drums. I promised I'd hide the smaller stuff for her. The guitar can stay in the crew quarters. Everything else isn't important enough to take on our crowded ship-" He was cut off by the sound of shouting. They looked at each other and both backed away from the door to the other side of the hallway. They remained quiet for a few minutes, waiting for Denna to finish her domestic dispute.

The door opened and Denna stalked back out. They got a glimpse of a blonde woman holding onto the collar of the dog, a look Traynor couldn't quite place on her face, perhaps anger, or regret? She was pulled from her examination of the woman by the door shutting and Denna placing a djembe in her arms. She handed several other hand drums to James, then went back in, coming out with a guitar on her back, upside-down, and smaller stringed instrument in her hands. She indicated that they should leave, and they followed her in silence, occasionally looking at each other, a million unasked questions in their features.

* * *

"Okay, time to get shit-faced. Would you care to join us still, Traynor?"

"Well, after being involved with that, I think you're stuck with me for life," she joked. "Where to?"

"Hammers," James replied. Traynor raised her eyebrows at the name and its lack of subtlety. "Well, that's what you do when you go there," he explained, unnecessarily.

"Can we just go, please?" Denna appeared anxious to be moving, doing anything but having to think about Sheila.

"Where are you guys going?" They all turned to find Shepard coming out of the elevator.

"Oh, um, just to a little bar for a drink, Commander," said James. "I owe Denna here a drink."

"Well, carryon, everyone. And don't worry, I'm not going to invite myself along. I know enough to know you don't want to get drunk with your CO in tow. Have fun, but don't indulge so much that you can't work." She moved into the mess hall, her ultimate destination unknown to any of them.

"Let's go, c'mon."

* * *

James came back onboard with Denna in his arms. She was so very drunk. Traynor walked beside him, also more inebriated that she'd been in a long time. Only James seemed unaffected by the sheer amount he had drunk. Traynor supposed he'd had more experience drinking like that. He was also huge. She reflected a moment on how sexually unappealing that was to her, though he made an excellent drinking buddy. The man could have fun anywhere, doing anything, she was sure of it.

"Where do we put her?"

James replied, "Oh, I'll take her to the armory. She can sleep it off where I can see her." Traynor didn't seem convinced. "Don't worry, she's gotten drunker than this before. But if there's a problem, I'll take her to the medbay." Traynor sighed and nodded, getting off the elevator at the crew deck so she could grab some sleep before her shift began in several hours. James remained, stepping off at the bottom of the ship and placing Denna on a cot he had behind his workbench for himself when he was done his work but not his shift.

* * *

"Fuck, my head," she murmured. She was still working the nightshift alone, which was just fine by her. But with Ken and Gabby joining them, she only had to work eight-hour shifts. Tonight was the first short one, and she was ecstatic. Or would be if her head wasn't throbbing so much.  _I'm never going head-to-head with James and shots again_. She looked at her duties, but couldn't bring it into focus. She sighed.

"EDI, I need to go grab something to drink. I'm going to set a systems diagnostic to run. Can you let me know when it's complete?"

"Adams performed one already today."

"I meant a hardware diagnostic. Those take longer, right?"

"Yes, but it is unnec-"

"Good. Run it and let me know when it's done. I'll be in the mess." And she left before EDI could further protest. Technically she shouldn't leave with no one else there unless it was urgent, but she seriously needed some caffeine, or maybe just a shot of tequila, something to end the ceaseless pounding in her head. When she got to the mess, she saw Dr. T'Soni sitting at one of the tables, datapads surrounding her. Denna mumbled a greeting, not wanting to sneak up on the woman, then went to the store cupboards.

"C'mon, where is it," she muttered, unable to find the coffee grounds. She shuffled and shuffled, couldn't find it, gave up, slumped to the ground in front of the cabinets with irrational tears stinging her eyes. "Fuck," she whispered. Sheila's eyes swam in her tears for a moment, and she kicked the counter in front of her to make it go away.

"Excuse me? Is everything okay?"  _Right. Dr. T'Soni's in here…_  She got up and ran out of the mess, unable to answer. She snuck into the crew quarters, not wanting to wake anyone, and grabbed her guitar off the wall where she had hung it when they brought it back to the ship. When she came back out, intending to just play it a little down in Engineering, Dr. T'Soni was waiting for her outside the door. "I'm sorry, I don't know your name… But you seemed upset? I didn't want to just ignore you…"

"I'm fine, Dr. T'Soni. I just couldn't find the coffee grounds." The asari looked at her, knowing that wasn't it, but not knowing what was so wrong that not finding the coffee grounds would trigger the outburst she, a stranger, witnessed.

"Alright…" She decided she'd allow her this weak excuse. She was a stranger, after all. "You still didn't tell me your name, and you clearly know mine."

"I'm sorry. Engineer Denna Halanz." She extended a hand, which Liara took. Denna was momentarily surprised that her skin felt remarkably similar to a human's. "And everyone knows who you are, Doctor. You're the only asari onboard, we went to get you specifically on Mars, and you helped the commander three years ago on the Citadel. I lived there at the time – we were all very thankful to you and the rest of the Normandy's crew." An image of she and Sheila picking up after the mess of the attack on the Citadel, digging Baxter out of the rubble he'd been trapped in, superimposed itself over the image she held of Liara in front of her. She shook her head, immediately regretting it. "Dammit," she said, holding her free hand to the base of her skull. "Damn hangovers."

"Ah."  _The reason no coffee could upset her to tears. She drank too much. Why did so many people do this?_  "Let me find the coffee for you," Liara said. "Maybe you can play something for me?" At Denna's questioning expression, she indicated the guitar Denna had rescued from the wall next to her bunk.

"Oh, right. Okay. I'll have to get back to work soon, though. I made EDI run a completely unnecessary hardware diagnostic so I could come up here and clear my head. I'm, uh, technically not supposed to leave Engineering with no one in there."

"I won't tell anyone," said Liara, smiling, turning, and leading Denna back into the mess hall. She followed, taking a place on one of the tables with her feet on the bench. Liara began making her coffee.

"Any requests?" She began tuning the guitar, not bothering with a pick, given the late hour and proximity of the crew's quarters. "I'm afraid I don't know anything that wasn't written on Earth at least a century ago."

"That's an interesting repertoire," remarked Liara.

"I… like old stuff," said Denna, flushing a little, which made her head pound. "Fuck," she muttered to herself, then louder, "Do you know anything?"

"Play me something you like. Just not too exuberantly – wouldn't want to make your head worse." She said the last with a little smile. The engineer shrugged and began diddling, letting her fingers become reacquainted with the instrument. She hadn't been able to play on this guitar in a year, not since leaving the Citadel to re-enlist and begin her work on Earth. It came back to her nicely, though, aided by the calluses she was able to keep by playing on a much-cheaper instrument in Vancouver. That and her engineering and welding duties.

She moved into the first chords of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds." She did love The Beatles, so she was unsurprised that her fingers stumbled upon this without her making them do it. She moved on from there, though. She didn't feel much like singing, and the song was repetitive instrumentally. She was enjoying the sound of her wonderful little guitar, the feel of the strings, the wood, it's slim body in her lap. She was getting a little lost in the music she was making when Liara brought her a mug. The smell made her eager, so she put the instrument down on the table next to her so she could start sipping the coffee as quickly as its heat would allow her.

"I was going to warn you that it's not very good, but apparently that's not a problem," said Liara with a smile.

"I may not be career military, but I've been drinking military-grade bad coffee for a while now. It may not taste as good as anything a café will get you, but it delivers caffeine just the same." She took another sip, already beginning to feel better.  _Probably just a placebo at this point, but whatever_. "Thank you, Dr. T'Soni. I appreciate it." She lifted the mug in a mini- _cheers_  movement and drained the rest of it.

"You're more than welcome. I liked what you were playing. It didn't sound like it was all one song, though."

"Oh, yeah. I tend to move from one song to another when I'm just playing around. A lot of people do, I guess. It's how a lot of music gets written."

"I thought most people write on a computer these days," said Liara, joining her on the tabletop.

Denna scowled and picked her guitar back up. "Most people don't play actual instruments anymore, and I think that that's very sad. But like I said, I like old stuff. And I like to do the things I like the old-fashioned way." She began playing again, going right into "Black Coffee," a swing song. She even started singing.

When she was done, she found Liara looking at her curiously. She blushed, put the guitar down, stood up. "I'm sorry," Liara said. "I've actually never heard a human sing before. I've heard that we don't sing around each other because it's considered rude – the translators just can't do a good job with it."

"I- I'm sorry if I offended you," Denna began, but Liara waved her off.

"Oh, not at all. I liked it. I was just amused because they're right, the translators cannot translate your singing. What were you singing?"

"'Black Coffee.' I thought it was appropriate. The genre is swing, from a long time ago. It has it's own kind of dancing and everything."

"Maybe you can show me sometime?" Liara's eyes sparked at Denna's blush.

"It's, uh, a partner dance. You need a partner who knows how to do it…" She scratched her scalp in her nervousness, fingers digging into her short black hair. Liara watched her intently.

"Well, maybe some other time, then." She got up from the table and returned to where she'd been doing her work. "Have a good night, Engineer Halanz."

"Y-You, too, Dr. T'Soni." She blushed again, turned tail, and hurried down to Engineering, guitar still strapped to her back, as EDI informed her the diagnostic was ready for her review.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"You have a damn crush on our CO!"

"Not so loud!" Traynor was sitting on James' workbench with Denna, both swinging their legs, waiting for James to come down. This was the emptiest room on the ship with the most room, and they were all friends with the only other occupant, Steve, anyway. Shepard sometimes came by, too, but they didn't really care. They were on their way to Palaven, but it would take a few hours, and they all needed to break some of the tension from the last few days stuck on the ship.

"So it's true, then," Denna said, more quietly, more conspiratorially. Traynor answered with a small punch to her shoulder.

"Yes, okay, I do. But I don't expect it to go anywhere. I just like working with her. And maybe looking at her, too." Her cheeks got a little darker as she said the last. "She has a nice bum." Denna laughed uproariously, receiving another punch to the arm and Steve's questioning look from across the room.

"So, we gonna do this thing or what?" James had come out of the elevator, walking over to them with his usual swagger. Denna clapped appreciatively and jumped down.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "What  _exactly_  are you two going to do?"

"You'll see! EDI, can you start the playlist I made earlier?" Denna kicked off her boots, James followed suit, and they moved into the middle of the shuttle bay. Traynor noticed that someone had laid out a smooth floor over the grating, and wondered what was about to happen. Maybe they were going to wrestle or spar? She settled in to watch them pummel each other – she liked the idea of the tiny engineer kicking the crap out of the giant marine. Instead some old, old, old music started playing, sounding like it might have been recorded in the days of the  _phonogram_. Denna and James faced Traynor side by side, snapping and moving their feet in an odd way. Then they started a dance to the music that was so peculiar, she had to ask them what it was.

"It's the shim-sham-shimmy!" Denna's face was alive as she danced, and James moved amazingly well. "I dragged James to lessons when I learned Sheila wanted a divorce. He felt so bad for me, he learned to dance for me!" She clapped and whooped, adding a flourish while James froze to a break in the music. After a minute or two of this, they broke their routine – or maybe it ended? – and started dancing together, James turning her every-which-way until the song ended. Traynor was amazed. She'd never seen anything like it.

"What kind of dance was that?"

"It's swing dancing, lindy-hop, to be more specific. It was created in the 1930s in the United States. It's a form of jazz. Wanna see more?"

"Yes, ooooooh, let's see it!"

"Alright, EDI, play the next track, please. Steve!" He looked up. "May I have this dance?"

"Hey, I thought  _we_  were dancing?" James had a pout on his face, which made him just look ridiculous.

"Then  _cut in_ , jackass," said Denna, pushing him away and laughing. He retreated to lean against his workbench next to Traynor, his arms across his chest and a smile on his face.

"This is a very good song for this," he mentioned to Traynor. "A classic, really. Hell, you might even recognize it. It's called 'Flying Home'."

"Lieutenant, I would never have suspected  _you_  of all people of being into this sort of thing," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder for emphasis.

"Well, at first I went to the lessons because she dragged me there. Then I started to like it.  _And_  it's a really good way to meet women. Just so you know," he added, looking at her and winking. He earned a smack to the arm, but continued to chuckle, her smile joining his.

Steve was beginning to really dance with Denna, eliciting a little  _whoop_  from her occasionally. Traynor and James smiled, laughing right along with them. Then they heard the door to the shuttle bay open, and they saw Shepard and Liara step off the elevator, both with looks of shock on their faces.  _Understandable_ , thought Traynor to herself.  _What a sight to see on a military frigate._  Steve noticed, too, and stopped dancing, looking a little ashamed. Denna didn't know what was going on, then noticed her CO and Liara standing by the elevator, watching them with those looks on their faces, and her tanned skin turned bright red.

James didn't give her a chance to walk away, though. He jumped over, gave Steve a little shove, and  _made_  the engineer keep dancing, almost throwing her around. Given his superior size, the only way she kept from falling was to go along with it. She got over her embarrassment quickly, focusing back in. James really was surprisingly good, and had her out in swing-outs, then into shadow-Charleston, then they were boogying back and forward before he grabbed her and did a pop-up to the end of the song. Everyone clapped. Denna once again turned bright red, and but also did a little curtsey, to everyone's enjoyment and laughter.

"That was quite the show! Unfortunately, we all have some work to do now. James, suit up. We're almost to Palaven." Shepard continued past them, grinning at Denna. "When we're done, you'll have to fill me in on what that was all about."

"Yes, ma'am. I have a feeling James is going to get so much shit on the shuttle for that?"

"Oh so very much. Steve, too." Her grinned widened, and she moved to gather her battle gear. Denna caught her give Samantha a look, and grinned to herself.

"So that's the dance you were mentioning the other night." Liara had snuck up behind Denna and placed a hand on her shoulder. She spun very quickly and looked up into the asari's face, almost paralyzed by her blue eyes, such a different color and look from Sheila's. She wouldn't mind getting lost in there.

"Y-Yes," she stammered, immediately regretting the need to open her mouth. She'd been perfectly capable of speaking the other night. What the Hell was wrong with her now?

"Well. I liked it." She smiled and continued on her way, but not before adding, "And you looked lovely doing it." Then she began to put on her armor, transforming from former archaeologist and Ph.D. to hardened combatant.

The engineer grabbed her boots, hoisted herself back onto James' workbench, and began to put them on. "It looks like I'm not the only one with a crush," whispered Traynor, her eyes dancing along with her smile. Denna just glared, lacing up her boots like she wanted to kill them. Traynor got down from the table. "You know," she said, her voice taking on what Denna was beginning to recognize as mischief in the making, "you ought to indulge. Get your mind off things. A good shag is always an excellent way to do that." She danced away before Denna could take a swing and entered the elevator, leaving the off-duty engineer to watch Shepard, Liara, James, and Steve suit up, board the shuttle, and depart.

* * *

Not twenty minutes later, Liara was headed back. With James and Steve gone, Denna volunteered to stay in the shuttle bay as soon as EDI started acting up. She may be off-duty, but in an emergency, that went out the window so fast it could make a person spin. She could feel the tension in the ship, hear boots stomping down the hallway. She wouldn't be as needed in Engineering as she was here, given that Gabby and Kenneth were on duty, and Adams had already rushed to join them. In fact, right after she told Joker she'd be in the shuttle bay, Adams had ordered her there, since he, too, knew someone would be needed there with Steve gone.

The shuttle bay doors opened, and the shuttle made its way through the force field. Its door opened before it even started to land. Denna held out her hand to Liara, who took hold of it as she exited, the shuttle still in the air. As they walked away, Steve didn't even bother landing – he just turned the thing around and took off again. Liara removed her helmet and Denna took it and her pistol, simultaneously making sure she closed the shuttle bay doors.

"Any more clues on what's going on?"

"We don't know, Dr. T'Soni. EDI just started going nuts, systems restarting, lights blinking, weapons systems powering up. We even had a lurch in the ship – I'll have a bruise on my thigh for a week. But diagnostics aren't doing us much good, since EDI monitors them for us, generally. I think right now we're just focusing on making it until she's done whatever it is she's doing."

"Hmmmm. Alright, I am going to speak with Joker, then I will probably be in my office. Let me know if you find anything?"

"Yes, Dr. T'Soni." Denna finished putting Liara's things away, minus the armor she left on as she got on the elevator. Liara tried speaking with EDI as she rode the elevator up to the CIC, but got no response. She should really check into how her network was taking the power fluctuations, but held herself in check – if the ship crashed or became inert, her network certainly wouldn't matter anymore. Liara exited the elevator, noticed that everyone was running around very much like ants around an anthill with a stick in it, and hurried to the bridge. Joker had no insights, however. EDI still wouldn't respond, and Joker was swearing like a sailor. Liara sat at the station next to him and proceeded to find a way to stabilize the ship.

* * *

"I hear it was quite a fight down there."

"I hear it was quite a ride up here." Denna was now helping James with the squad's armor and weapons. She was still in the shuttle bay, the problem with EDI over for the moment, but the AI still wasn't responding.

"That's an understatement. She tried to buck us like a bronco." James was still for a moment, looking at her with a very amused look on his face. "What?"

"Nothing," he said, resuming his care of Shepard's armor. "You just really don't hide that you grew up on a farm."

"A ranch. And why should I?" She placed each gun on his workstation with the delicacy she usually reserved for her instruments in Engineering. "I  _like_  that I know how to break a horse  _and_  an engine."

"Yes, well, that's all fine and dandy, I'm just saying that most people won't get it."

"Well, they can fuck off. Let me do Dr. T'Soni's, you start your gun prep." They traded places, and began their separate tasks. She took Liara's chest plate and stood riveted for a moment – she could  _smell_  the asari on it. She didn't know what the scent was, just that it brought the woman and the hue of her skin to mind. She shook her head slightly and moved on. "So, you met Garrus? I've heard he's a bad-ass."

"Yeah, he's pretty good. Nothing like yours truly," James said with a grin and a wink.  _God, what a jock_ , she thought to herself, rolling her eyes and laughing with him.

Then the lights began blinking on and off again. "Shit, not again… Adams?" She'd opened up her omnitool to contact him directly.

"Yes, Halanz, Shepard's already headed to the AI core. As am I. Standby." They only had to wait a few minutes. Denna, James, and Steve were all equally shocked by the news – EDI had taken control of the body of the mech that had injured Lieutenant-Commander Williams on Mars! In addition to giving them the information they needed for Dr. T'Soni to analyze the Prothean device, it also gave EDI a body she could take into combat. Combat! Like, on the ground! And in the air – simultaneously!

Denna completely geeked out for a minute about that one.

"Samantha's gonna flip. Let's go harass her!"

"You can do that all on your own. I have work to do –  _I_  didn't get dismissed like you did." James strutted over to his workstation, picked up a pistol, and began cleaning and calibrating it.

"Killjoy. Fine, do your  _job_. I'm going to grab my guitar. Mind if I hang out down here?"

"Maybe you shouldn't, Denna." This was Steve. "I have a feeling Shepard will be back, and you don't wanna be caught  _again_." He had a point. She shrugged and made her way to the elevator. "Couldn't happen twice in one day, right?"

* * *

She cried. She was actually crying. She'd gotten to her bed in time to find several people gathered next to it, looking at something on the ground. She asked what was going on, still in a rather good mood, all things considered, and found her guitar on the ground, the neck broken, the head only connected to the guitar by the strings. Her heart fell through her stomach, her bowels tried to release, and her stomach lurched painfully. It took several seconds for her to process fully what happened. The people around her were smart enough to piss off at the look on her face.

Now she sat on her knees with the guitar across her lap, the head in one hand, crying by the card table – the only empty room in the ship that she had access to. She sat like that for a long time, its life spinning through her head. She thought of when she got it, a going-away present from her father when she was leaving for basic training – he took her to the local music shop and let her pick _anything_  she wanted. He even had them remove the prices for the trip, so she wouldn't be caught up in choosing something affordable. She picked it up and played it, and was so happy with it that she didn't put it down again until they'd gotten home. She'd brought it to basic training, played it for Sheila while they dated – it sat on the bed next to them when they'd made love for the first time, on the floor. She'd played it for her while naked, after intimate moments, or to lull her to sleep. She'd lovingly hung it on the wall in their apartment when they moved in a couple years before, after she'd completed her four years in the Alliance, gotten a job as an engineer on the Citadel, and married Sheila. She'd even calmed Baxter as a puppy by playing it, watching him watch her as he fell asleep. She'd longed for it during her most-recent stint on Earth, and even though she'd had that fight with Sheila while she retrieved it from their apartment –  _Sheila's_   _apartment_ , she corrected herself – the disappointment of their meeting had been tempered quite drastically by getting the instrument back. And now she keened over it like a mother who lost her baby.

She felt fucking pathetic.

The door opened. She dropped the head of the guitar in her lap and wiped her eyes, trying hard to not look like she'd been weeping.

"This is the game room, where the card table is."

"I see. This used to be where Zaeed was set up. Looks different."

"I imagine you'll be spending a good chunk of your time here, if I know you, Garrus."

"Only if I find some people who want to play with me, Liara." The male, dual-harmonic voice chuckled. Apparently neither of them had seen her yet. She fervently hoped they didn't come further into the room and would leave for more touring of the ship. "Now if we manage to meet up with Tali again, we can show that engineer, Donnelly, how it's done." Her heart had almost rocketed out of her chest at the word "engineer."

"Indeed," said Liara. Denna heard them leave the room and let her breath out, not even realizing she'd been holding it. Then her omnitool beeped, and she cursed quietly at James, who was wondering where the hell she was. "Did you hear that?"

The male voice, Garrus, spoke. "Hear what?" Denna saw Liara peek her head in further, saw her catch sight of her, and tried to wave her away. Liara's eyes narrowed.

"Just… I'll talk to you later, Garrus." She didn't even offer an explanation, gently guiding him out the door so that it would close. She raised her omnitool to it, locking it for a few minutes, and came to the human on the floor.

She looked up at the asari, her heart pounding in her chest, her face bright red in embarrassment. Liara took a knee in front of her, placed a gloved thumb to her cheek, wiped away wetness. "God, I'm so sorry, Dr. T'Soni. I-" She choked back a sob, closed her eyes, and slumped. She felt the instrument removed from her lap, quite gently, and was drawn forward so she slumped forward onto Liara's lap. Her hands began to slowly rub Denna's back, and the human found it to be quite relaxing. Within a minute she was breathing normally, then even more slowly. She hugged the woman's knees after another minute and sat up, wiping the remaining wetness from her eyes. "Thank you," she whispered.

Liara produced a small, sincere smile. "You're very welcome." She remained where she was, however, picking up the guitar with much reverence, neck in one hand, head in the other. "It happened during that lurch you told me about, didn't it?" Denna nodded, not trusting her voice as she looked at her precious instrument. "I see. Are you willing to tell me what's really wrong? This is the second time I've witnessed an emotional outburst. I understand this one – I can tell how dearly you hold this beautiful instrument – but I know not being able to find the coffee was not the sole reason for the other night."

The engineer hung her head in shame. "You don't want to hear about my problems, Doctor," she mumbled, though still understandably. "I'm sure your troubles are far worse."

"Well, I won't push you," the asari said, getting up and keeping hold of the guitar. "But I truly don't mind one whit. And you never know – your troubles could put mine to shame. My home-world hasn't been attacked." Denna also stood up, but couldn't take the instrument back. Liara continued to hold it out to her, her head tilted to the side. Denna just couldn't touch it again. Liara finally pulled it back, regarded it, looked at Denna, and turned to exit. She left slowly, Denna watching her the whole way. She felt empty inside. She hoped the doctor was good to it when she got rid of it.

* * *

"Hey, wake up!" Denna started awake, staring at stars. She was still in the lounge.

"The fuck…?"

"I was gonna ask you that." James sat next to her as she sat up. "You disappeared and never came back. I thought you'd be keeping me company with your beauty," he said, referring to her guitar.

She remembered why she was here and what happened. "She's broken, James. She fell off the wall when EDI was acting up, and the neck snapped in half." But she had a warm feeling remembering Liara comforting her, asking her to unload her worries, her general concern, the way she'd touched her face, her back. She smiled slightly. James didn't see, though, thank God. That would be difficult to explain.

He whistled long and low. "Damn. Is the mandolin okay?" She nodded. "Well, I guess at least there's that… but it wasn't your baby like the guitar was." They were quiet for a minute. Denna leaned against him, resting her head on his chest when he raised his arm and rested it around her shoulders, pulling her in to his side. "We'll get you another one, Kat," he added, using the nickname he'd given her after the one time they'd slept together, the day after she'd been served with divorce papers, because her body, the way she moved, had reminded him of a cat. "It won't have the memories, but you can make new ones. It'll be the girl you had when we beat the Reapers." She smiled, enjoying his closeness and warmth.  _The girl I want to have took the guitar away last night…_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Halanz collapsed into her bunk, fully clothed, as Traynor began getting her uniform on across the aisle from her. "Rough night," Samantha asked, pulling off her shorts and stepping a leg into her uniform pants. Denna just nodded. "What made it so rough?"

"I spent the entire night welding – one thing. One  _big_  thing. I just kept finding corrosion that needed to be chipped away and replaced by new soldering."

"Mmmm, keep that talk up, and I might be late for duty," teased Samantha. She laughed at Denna's groan, caught the pillow thrown at her, and kept getting dressed. When she left, she plopped the pillow on Denna's face, startling her out of a doze. "Take your uniform off, soldier!" After fifteen minutes, she cursed Traynor out loud, waking one or two fellow night-shifters who were now trying to sleep. She got up, unable to sleep, yet exhausted, and wandered out to get something to eat. Maybe something in her stomach would make her fall asleep again.

She passed everyone on the day shift finishing their breakfasts. She forewent coffee, grabbed a plate, looked around, saw no one else, and filled her plate with the rest of the food and sat down to eat. It was technically more than she should eat, but after last night, with how sore it was going to make her shoulders from hanging over the railing by the drive core with soldering iron and welder's mask, she felt justified.

"Hungry?" Liara had exited her room and approached Denna as she sat at a table.

"Uh… yeah, I guess."  _Answer of the century, Denna_.

Liara chuckled. "Obvious answer for an obvious question, I suppose." She sat across from her, datapad in-hand. They settled into a comfortable silence, Liara working, Denna eating. She noticed that Liara wasn't gloved today, and wondered if she'd ever seen her without the gloves before. Her hands were very pretty, a sort of deep sky blue, and Denna found herself somewhat mesmerized as they moved in normal, everyday ways.

Liara noticed the engineer staring at her hands. The woman intrigued her. The human was quite young for her people's standards, twenty-six, if Liara remembered correctly from looking at her service record the night she'd found her with her broken guitar. Liara moved her left hand up to her chin, just to be sure that she was looking at the asari's hands, and – yes! There they went! Denna's eyes flicked to her face before moving just as quickly to her other hand, the one not touching her face. Liara smiled to herself.

Denna continued to eat, chewing quietly, feeling she'd somehow been caught staring, but not sure. She'd been thinking less of Sheila lately. She also felt less guilty about her tryst with James that one drunken night. She'd been reacquainting herself with the mandolin, for whose survival she was actually thankful, as it had been her grandfather's. She'd even pulled out the drums in the shuttle bay and had James and Steve jam with her a little, much to Samantha's delight. It had been four weeks since her precious baby, her beautiful guitar, had crashed to the floor. They hadn't been back to the Citadel since their first trip, instead flying to the war summer, then Sur'Kesh, then to a few backwater planets to root out a Cerberus presence there. She was aching to get back to the Citadel and see her dog – but not her wife.

"Engineer Halanz, I was hoping you'd indulge me and let me buy you a meal when we dock on the Citadel later." Denna almost jumped out of her reverie. She looked questioningly at Liara, her mouth full, no longer chewing. Liara's cheeks became a slightly darker blue. "We've come to know each other a little, but I thought it might be nice to get off the crowded ship and-"

"I'd love to," blurted Denna through her food. She blushed and swallowed heroically. "Sorry, I just wasn't aware we were headed for the Citadel. Don't we have to go cure the genophage?"

"Yes, but it's not ready yet, and we're running low on a few things, so Shepard decided to refuel while we wait for Mordin." Her blush was fading, which Denna was kind of sad for. "So, dinner then? Tonight?"

Denna's flushed face only flushed harder. "Uh, yeah, that sounds… wonderful…" she finished very quietly. "I… you can call me Denna, by the way." She looked up. "You're not even part of the military. My last name is so official, I tend to think I'm being reprimanded when someone uses it along with my title."

Liara smiled. "Denna. Alright. As long as you stop calling me Dr. T'Soni and start calling me Liara."

Denna chuckled. "I think that's more than fair. Now," she said, getting to her feet and grabbing up her plate, "I haven't slept in sixteen hours, and I would very much like to be awake and alert for our, uh… date." She blushed again, cursing her skin for giving her away.

"Sleep well, Denna." Liara's smile said so many things that Denna didn't know how to interpret.

"Thank you. I'd tell you the same, but you clearly keep a normal schedule. So, uh… have a good morning." She hurried away before she could be any more awkward, feeling wide-awake, but like she would sleep like a baby at the same time.

* * *

She had awoken when the Normandy docked with the Citadel. The entire crew was granted shore leave. She'd showered, gotten into a fresh uniform – the only clothing she had at this point – and wandered off the ship. By the time she left, it was a ghost ship, and she couldn't find James, Steve, or Samantha. So she just ambled by herself, pleased with the message she'd received in her email from Liara about where and when to meet.

She decided to call on Sheila. She didn't really want to see her, but she  _did_  want to see Baxter, and since she had some time to kill, now was as good a time as any. She headed over to her old apartment, site of her last big fight with her soon-to-be ex-wife, sending her a brief message on her way. She received an equally brief reply, saying that she was out, but Denna was welcome to get Baxter and take him out for a bit. When she entered the apartment, Baxter once again tried to jump into her arms. She looked around at the different arrangement – Baxter's bed was in a different place, and Sheila had upgraded the furniture, particularly the bed. A bra that was far too large to be Sheila's sat on the floor next to the bed – Baxter went over, grabbed it in his mouth, and brought it to Denna in much the same way he would bring a toy. She narrowed her eyes and took it from him, placing it up on the kitchen counter. She leashed him up and got the hell out of there, grabbing pick-up bags as she left. He happily trotted next to her, his boxer-butt wiggling in place of a tail whenever they stopped.

She'd been out for an hour when she heard her name being called. She turned to find Liara coming down a street perpendicular to hers. She stopped and waited for her to approach, kneeling and placing her arms around Baxter to keep him from greeting her as enthusiastically as he'd greeted Denna. She was genuinely happy to see her, and hoped that came through in her greeting.

"Hello, Liara," Denna greeted as she got close enough, still kneeling next to the dog with an arm around him, hand on his chest. He was literally vibrating, wanting to cover the woman in kisses and sniffs, and his fur, no doubt.

"Denna, hello. I don't… why do you have an animal with you?" She eyed him cautiously. Maybe asari didn't keep pets?

"This is Baxter, a handsome gentlemen with very few manners," she said, getting up and admonishing him to remain sitting. Somehow he managed to restrain himself. "It's… a long story. Care to walk with me?"

"Y- Yes," Liara said, still looking unsure of the animal. Then her startling blue eyes snapped back to Denna's face. "But only if I get to hear this long story."

"I suppose I can do that," she said, letting Baxter stand, keeping him on a  _very_  short leash, and taking a step to continue their walk. "It's, well… It's nothing happy, unfortunately."

Liara walked beside her on the side without the dog. "Is it going to be what you wouldn't tell me all those weeks ago?" Denna nodded, looking ahead of her, then down at Baxter.

"I'm, um, married. I picked Baxter up from my wife's apartment today." Liara looked at her, shock clearly written on her features. Denna hurried on. "Only we're getting divorced. It's not legal, the paperwork hasn't gone through yet, but I had to get my stuff out of her apartment, and – she's taking the dog, since I have nowhere to keep him. Even though I got him before we ever lived together and he's mine."

Liara didn't know what to say. It explained a lot about the woman. Should she continue to try to get involved with her? She hadn't had an outburst that Liara knew about since they'd met in the lounge four weeks before. Instead, they'd had many pleasant interactions in the halls, or in the mess, and she'd even gone to watch her dance a couple of times in the shuttle bay. She knew she made Denna's friends uncomfortable, though, so after the last time, she decided to watch from the loft above the shuttle bay. She hadn't confessed her interest to anyone, though.

After a few moments of silence, Denna continued. "After my parents were killed in a Collector attack, I decided to re-enlist in the Navy. And maybe two months after I got to Earth, I received notice that she'd filed for divorce. She didn't even  _fucking_  talk to me about it beforehand – just filed for divorce, citing 'irreconcilable differences.'" She sighed. "And now she's taking my dog, and my guitar is smashed, and I just lost it that night. I had been feeling better, but it was like I'd gotten back part of my life when I was able to play that guitar again. It smashed on the ground kind of represented my life, my marriage, and the entire situation with the war at that moment." They continued walking at a slow pace, the dog walking jauntily beside them.

Liara finally spoke. "Did you ever learn what the differences were?"

Denna looked up at her. "Yeah, I did, the day I got my instruments back. She didn't want to be a military wife. I knew that, but I didn't know she'd leave me over it. It's not like I wanted to be career military. I just felt a duty to help in some way after I lost my family. I met her during my first stint as an Engineer on Earth, in the Navy. And she knew I wanted to serve again, with what had happened to my family. Maybe with my parents dying and all that, it was just too much. Maybe we got married too young. I don't know. But I know she's moved on, found someone else, which I suspected when I was notified that she was still seeking a divorce, even after the attack on Earth. No 'are you alive, are you okay,' just a request for me to get my things when I was next on the Citadel. And a transcript of her deposition, stating, among other things, that she was seeking to keep Baxter, since I was 'unfit to care for him' while serving." She looked back up at Liara from Baxter. "Maybe I was just too inattentive, too selfish. I'm sure that's some of it."

Liara regarded her with those inhumanly blue eyes. "Do you wish she'd take you back?"

Denna looked into the distance, then hung her head a little. "No. Not anymore. Not like this, not with what's happened. Maybe if I could have everything how it was before the Collector attack on my parents' colony. I'm ready to be done with it and never see her again. But as long as we're going to keep coming to the Citadel, I'm going to keep spending time with my boy, here. I raised him, he's a good boy – and I miss him. And every time I see him, it's clear he missed me." She went quiet, looking around as they walked. Then she froze, her eyes fixed in the distance. "Fuck!"

"What?" Liara looked in the direction Denna was looking in, but there was no way she could see anything out of the ordinary.

"That blonde woman in the blue dress? That's Sheila. My… wife. Fuck, what do I do?" Her look was desperate. Liara hesitated a second, then took her hand, laced their fingers together and  _made_  her continue walking, steering them in the direction of the blonde woman.

"Just look happy, and not terrified," she whispered in her ear, adding a kiss to her cheek as they got close.

"Denna!" Sheila seemed surprised, which Liara supposed made sense – to see her wife walking with an asari and their pet. But the woman was walking with a black-haired buxom woman in a skin-tight dress who was clearly this new lover Denna had spoken of, so Liara felt she had no room to judge.

"Sheila! How are you?" Denna took her hand from Liara's, wrapped her arm around her waist. "This is-"

"Liara T'Soni," finished Liara, offering a hand. Sheila took it, eyeing them, unable to keep the shock from her face. "We're shipmates aboard the Normandy." Sheila's eyes got wide at the name of the ship. She stammered her own introductions, clearly still not able to regain her footing. They exchanged pleasantries, Liara finally letting go of Denna and taking her hand again.

"Please excuse us. Come, Denna. We'll be late for our dinner date if we don't take your lovely dog home now." And she tugged her away, hoping Denna would indeed choose the right direction for the apartment.

When they rounded a corner, finally out of view, they stopped. "Wow, Liara. I… thank you." She looked up into the blue-skinned woman's deep, blue eyes. Liara just smiled, her cheeks turning a slightly darker shade of blue. "Really, that was just amazing." Truly, the part she'd enjoyed the most was touching Liara. Seeing Sheila again did nothing for her. Her bitterness fell away in that moment, even the bitterness over Baxter – Sheila was right, she couldn't care for him while serving on a ship. She just stared into Liara's eyes, several inches above her own. Beautiful.

"I'm glad I could help make your wife jealous," the asari said, a small rift entering her voice. "Now, shall we go?"

"Wait, Liara." Denna grabbed her hand again to keep her from turning away. "I… don't quite know how this happened, but I… wow, I really like you, Liara. And I wish I had the balls to just kiss you…" She looked at her hand, let go of Liara's, didn't know what to do. Her damn mouth, getting her into trouble.

She felt Liara's hand on her chin. A gentle pressure made Denna face her again. "I admit, I was hoping that was true since I made you coffee all those weeks ago." And she kissed her, leaning over her slightly, grazing her lips across Denna's, not touching her anywhere else but her hand on her chin.

She pulled back before the electricity could truly enflame either of them. "Thank you for telling me about your… domestic troubles. I can't imagine how painful it's been for you, especially with everything else that has happened to you. Now, why don't we take – Baxter, is it? – home, and we can have dinner like we planned." And she took her hand and gave her a little tug, chuckling at Denna being literally frozen in place. She left their hands together for their entire walk.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Their dinner had been quite enjoyable. Sheila was not mentioned again. Liara had asked about her childhood, her parents, the ranch she'd grown up on. She was impressed with the sheer number and wide range of things that Denna could do. She could cultivate a field, ride a horse, neuter a steer – "I even neutered Baxter myself, because I could, so why should I take him to a vet" – as well as engineer the crops at the genetic level, weld and program, and play music and swing dance. Liara learned that she was absolutely fascinated by Earth's history, particularly the 20th century.

Denna learned about Liara's childhood alone with Benezia, the significance of being a pureblood, the fact that instead of dancing in bars and going to parties, she'd gotten an education and become an archaeologist on the Protheans, and how she'd helped Shepard defeat Saren.

But time for talk was now over. They'd boarded the Normandy together, but when Denna tried to say goodnight, Liara had simply taken her hand and led her gently but deliberately to her office. The ship was still absolutely empty. And now here she was, standing in the middle of the asari's office, Liara finding the control to turn that VI drone off, and, finally, she was there in front of her. There was only the light from the monitors in the room, throwing Liara into silhouette. The asari reached a hand to caress her face, and Denna couldn't take it anymore. She closed the distance between them very quickly, threading her fingers into Liara's shirt and pulling her into a kiss of fire. Liara gathered the smaller woman into her arms, returning her kiss more passionately than she had received from anyone in years. They stood this way for a moment before they began moving, neither knowing who initiated, and found themselves falling onto Liara's bed.

Denna straddled Liara's lap, pushing herself up, allowing Liara to sit. She looked into the asari's face as she began to slide her jacket off her shoulders. Liara had already un-tucked Denna's shit and begun to feel the skin on her hips and stomach, getting ready to lift that shirt up and over the human's head.

"Engineer Halanz."  _Adams?!_

"You're shitting me," Denna said into Liara's mouth after she broke the kiss they'd just started, then sat back on Liara's lap. Liara looked up into her face, a smile on her face and a blush in her cheeks. "Yes, Adams?"

"EDI told me you'd come back to the ship. I assume you're done with your shore leave for now? I need someone to help me in Engineering. All that welding you did last night was excellent – I need more of your expertise."

Denna sighed and rolled her eyes, looking pleadingly at Liara. "I can't get you out of it – you're in the Alliance. Go," the asari said, chuckling and kissing her lightly on the lips. "I'm sure we can figure out where we left off – later." Denna groaned and got up, missing Liara's proximity immediately.

Denna kissed her again, dropping her coat in her lap. "Just promise me we can keep not being awkward about it." One last kiss and she was out the door, cursing Adams, EDI, and everyone else she could think of as she tucked her shirt back in. It didn't occur to her until she stepped into Engineering that there was one person she wasn't cursing: Sheila. In fact, she had a lot to thank her for at the moment.

* * *

"Making any progress on your crush?" Traynor glared at her. "That bad, huh?"

"Yes. Are you making any progress on yours?"

"I, uh…" Denna blushed.  _Dammit._

"Oh-ho! I  _thought_  you were in a good mood!"

"Keep it down! Jesus!"

They were moving again, headed to answer a distress call at Grissom Academy while Mordin continued his work on the cure to the genophage. Denna was done her shift, and Traynor had just begun her own. She was thinking of visiting Liara, but couldn't think of a good excuse to visit the woman's cabin with everyone around. Somehow, she thought the asari would appreciate her discretion in this matter, and Denna didn't really want to go broadcasting it, either. They had seen each other once since their date – Liara had visited her in Engineering, during her very next shift, and they'd spent a good fifteen minutes with Denna pressed up against her workstation, hands searching, panting, memorizing each other's scent. She had come again the next night, during the shift she'd just completed, and they'd come very close to completing the act right there in Engineering to the soothing sound of the drive core. She could still feel how wet she'd become all those hours before.

"EDI mentioned you returned to the Normandy together the day before yesterday," Traynor continued in a whisper, her eyes lighting up.

"EDI has a big damn mouth," Denna said, glaring in the direction of the cockpit. "And no, EDI, I don't care that you can hear me."

"I was simply conversing as friends do, Engineer Halanz."

"Yes, gossiping. Later, Samantha," she added, winking and saluting Shepard, who had just walked up, before leaving them to their work. But not before catching her CO taking a peek at Sam's ass. Oh, how gleefully she hoped that happened.

She made her way to the crew's quarters and grabbed her mandolin, thinking she would go harass James some, then decided to simply go play on her own in the lounge.

Several hours later, her presence was requested in Engineering. They were approaching Grissom Academy and they needed all hands on deck. She was thankful that she hadn't been asleep – those poor bastards had to wake up and get to work from a dead sleep. She hurried in and took her usual station, mirroring Ken and Gabby on the other side of the room. They all exchanged quick greetings before she got to work. The trouble was that they would be engaging hostiles, the Normandy giving a distraction so that Shepard's shuttle, holding Liara, Garrus, and Steve, would be able to infiltrate the station. This would be the Normandy's first real battle situation since leaving Earth – she needed her whole crew on hand.

Her job was simple – monitor the drive core's output while Joker and EDI pushed it in battle. She lost her footing a couple of times. They were at it for an hour, and by the end of it, when the shuttles carrying their team and the students from the academy were aboard, she had quite the collection of bruises, scrapes, and burns (she'd had to do a quick welding job), and moving brought the occasional muffled curse. Adams dismissed them, letting them know that their shifts would still start at the normal times, but hopefully with lighter duties. Denna hobbled out of Engineering behind Ken and Gabby, but instead of heading into the elevator to go up to the crew deck, she waited at the window overlooking the shuttle bay so she could take the elevator down to it.

She saw the students exit the shuttle, then Shepard, Liara, and Garrus. Their helmets came off and were immediately handed to James, as well as all firearms. After them came two grown women, one in an Alliance uniform, and one a super badass tattooed woman in a leather jacket and cargo pants, and very interesting hair. The elevator dinged, and Denna limped in. She rode it down one level, exited into the room she'd just been observing, limping aside so Shepard and a bunch of other people could board it. Garrus and Liara stayed behind, divesting themselves of armor and discussing the fire they had each taken. She hobbled over to James and asked how his ride was.

"Nothing I can't handle," he said, starting his work on the guns. "I may have a bruise or two from Joker's piloting, though. What about you? You kinda look like shit."

"I kinda  _feel_  like shit. I got knocked down a few times, and I had to do some welding in the drive core room while hanging on to the railing with one hand – got a burn for that one." She showed him her forearm, where there was a nasty red streak that shone brightly in the light of the shuttle bay. He whistled appreciatively, then went back to work. Garrus moved past them to the elevator, leaving Liara the only one by the shuttles, retrieving her coat. "All right, I'll see you later, James," she said, and made her way to Liara's side.

"I see you're limping. I'm sorry the fighting was that bad on the ship," the asari said in greeting, shrugging back into her coat. She had her gloves on this time.

"I'm sure it wasn't anything compared to what you experienced on the ground," she said in return, looking around quickly before grabbing the asari's hand and pulling her into the pilot-less shuttle, ignoring her sore body, and closing the door. She then pushed the woman against the door with her whole body, arms around her waist, and was rewarded for her daring with a blistering kiss.

"Come to my room," Liara breathed, kissing her again and again, pulling her body as close as their clothes would allow. "Now." Denna was able to get one "okay" in between the kisses that scorched her lips and set her entire body aflame. Then she found herself without a woman in her arms, the shuttle door open, Liara walking away, her clothes straight, her walk doing nothing to indicate her state of arousal. Denna wasn't sure she could pull that off, but she tried, straightening her clothes, patting her hair, and trying not to run after Liara like a doting puppy. James eyed her as she walked by a minute later, but she did not want to explain, or deal with the teasing, right at the moment.

* * *

Denna awoke slowly, taking in her dim surroundings, the scents around her, and her lack of clothing. Images came unbidden to her mind, and she smiled, then grinned like a raving idiot. Liara's blue hands on her white stomach, Liara's tongue in her mouth and on her neck, the taste of the asari between her legs… She was absolutely stunning, and Denna had no idea how she ended up with her interest, but she wasn't complaining.  _I may never complain about anything again_. She looked around and found Liara not far away, sitting on one her sofas, wearing her underthings only, reading something. She looked up at Denna when she lifted herself from the bed a little, smiled, set her work down, and flowed like water back into the bed. The sight brought back even more of their lovemaking, the sight of Liara above her, the image of her own hand disappearing inside the woman, the exquisite release of her orgasm – around Liara's fingers.

"Did you sleep well?" Denna nodded. Liara settled next to her on her side, torso held up by her elbow. Denna immediately kissed her, tracing her fingers along her stomach. They settled in with Denna on her back and Liara lying on her stomach, sort of on top of her, exploring the human's torso, tracing up and down with the pads of her fingers.

"I've always been amazed by how alike our bodies are," Liara said, tracing her fingers along Denna's breasts and up to her collarbone, ending by cupping Denna's cheek lightly, smiling into her face.

"Me, too. I guess that's just one more piece of evidence in support of our evolution being guided." Liara's expression clouded. "Oh, don't, I didn't mean… I'm sorry. Me and my big mouth."

"It's all right. I just liked forgetting about it, if only for a moment." Liara rolled off of her, settling in a semi-seated position against the wall. Denna followed, her head resting on Liara's shoulder.

"Liara," she said, placing her hand on Liara's chest, between her breasts. "That was…" Liara looked down at her with a smile. "Quite simply amazing. And I think the frustrating build-up just made it better." Liara chuckled. She knew Liara agreed, as she had expressed the very same sentiment the night before. "But I have a question." Liara raised her eyebrows –  _are they called eyebrows?_  "Well, I've heard about the asari bonding process. Was that it? Because while it was amazing, it didn't feel tremendously different from, well… sex."

"Just boring, run-of-the-mill sex, hmm?" Liara was only teasing, but her heart melted when Denna's face fell and she started to stammer something about not meaning it like that. She shushed the human with a finger over her lips, kissing her and caressing her cheek. "Hush, I was just teasing. I agree that our coupling was wonderful, and tremendously fun. It didn't feel like anything more than sex because it wasn't – I didn't initiate the bond."

"Any particular reason?"

"Yes, but… Well, my desire was so intensely animal, and has been for days. I did not wish to bond with you last night – I wished to _devour_  you." Denna's eyes flashed at hearing this, a grin on her face. Liara smiled in return. "I  _did_  think about it, of course. I could have initiated at any point, but I did not want to scare you away – when you bond, memories and feelings are shared. I thought perhaps we should start with something more familiar to you." Denna looked up at her for a moment before shifting, straddling the woman's hips and kissing her very deeply.

"I can understand that," she said after pulling away a little. "I'm interested to know. But I think you were right – it might have been more than a little disorienting to suddenly be experiencing feelings or memories that weren't my own. Maybe next time." She said the last with a smile.

Liara couldn't keep the sincerity from her voice, even though she tried desperately to phrase it as a joke. "So you're interested in doing this again, then?" Denna just looked at her, her incredulity written clearly on her face. Liara tried to backtrack. "I mean, I…" She couldn't finish. This had been her fear, that Denna would be like so many humans who wanted to sleep with an asari, maybe experience bonding, and then run. But Denna's expression made it clear that this wasn't something she ever had to worry about with _this_  human. Rather than explain all of this, she pulled her down and kissed her hard. It wasn't long before Liara's underclothing was once again on the ground, and they were making an even bigger mess of her bedspread.

* * *

"Denna, you're spacing out again." James snapped in front of her face twice, grinning from ear to ear. "You seem to be in a good mood, lately. Distracted, too." He leaned against the table. They were sitting in the mess hall. "Who are you fucking?"

"Classy as ever, James," said Samantha, sitting next to them with her own food. They were ending their shifts, while Denna was getting ready to head down to her own. "But he does have a point, Denna. You've had a grin and a faraway look since you appeared fifteen minutes ago. Where  _were_  you last night?" There was a light in her eyes showing that she knew  _exactly_  where Denna had been.

"I…" She sighed heavily. "I was with Liara…" Samantha immediately clapped her delight, while James was literally left speechless, an amazing feat, indeed. "Sorry I haven't said anything about our… courtship. I haven't wanted to share her, I guess." He stared at her for a moment, then just started eating, shrugging at her.

"You don't like to brag. I get it. But I gotta say," he added, taking a heroic-sized bite and swallowing it. "I'm impressed, Kat." And he winked and grinned.

"Well, he may be satisfied with that, but I want more details. How did you go from having a crush that you wouldn't talk to me about to spending the night with her?" Samantha hadn't touched one piece of her food. Denna let loose, telling them about their flirting, Liara comforting her after her guitar was broken, their meeting Sheila and their first kiss, their date. She told them briefly about how they almost had sex, but were prevented from doing so by Adams' interruption – many laughs were had. And she told them about the midnight visits Liara made to Engineering over the last couple of days, culminating in the most erotic demand of her life on that shuttle, James not twenty feet away. It only took her a few minutes to tell them, but the feeling of elation, of weight falling off of her shoulders, was astounding. She left them to go to work, feeling like she was floating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: A quick note on asari bonding. Before I ever started reading fanfiction (ie when I wrote this fic for myself) I imagined asari bonding to be like a companion to sex. Like, it was required for making a child, but not for having an orgasm. I imagine it would be similar to masturbating versus having an orgasm with a beloved partner - sex still feels good without the bond, but with it it's ten times better. So, you know. Just my thoughts on it as I was writing it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Denna sat on her knees, much as she had with her broken guitar, weeping, a dead Baxter on the ground in front of her. They'd cured the genophage. They'd stopped Cerberus from taking the Citadel. What they hadn't done was prevent the bastards from shooting her dog. Sheila knelt across from her, her hands over Denna's on the dog's unmoving chest. There were no words – they were both devastated. She'd had to wait  _hours_  to be able to get off the ship to see if Sheila had survived, to see what she could do to help. They might be going through a divorce, but that didn't mean she didn't want to know how she fared. She'd walked through the malfunctioning doors to find the dog on the ground on his side, blood spread around him, already beginning to dry. Sheila had arrived barely a moment later, having been held in her office and only just released.

Denna cried. And cried. She slumped forward and let Baxter's fur soak up her tears. She could only hope that whichever Cerberus soldier had taken him down had one hell of a nasty bite to his leg – the shot was clearly a point-blank affair. She lost count of the minutes that passed, sobs wracking her body, the only sound in her world being her own and Sheila's crying. She didn't know how long it was before she felt strong hands gently lift her head from the dog. The vision of James swam in the tears in her eyes. He knelt next to her, one hand on her back, the other gently tilting her head up.

"C'mon, Kat, let's go." He lifted her when she protested, but she was so weak. He scooped her up and deposited her gently onto the bed. Sheila followed, sitting on the edge, sniffling, but no longer crying. He walked back over and hoisted the dead animal onto a shoulder. He exchanged a few words with Sheila, indicating Steve and Samantha over by the door, and disappeared through the door that would no longer close, hauling the broken body of the dog with him.

Denna lay this way for several minutes before her stomach rebelled. She managed to heave its contents onto the floor, then collapse back on the bed, utterly exhausted. Samantha was worried.

"Perhaps we should get her back to the ship?"

"I can take care of her," said Sheila defiantly, standing and walking toward the kitchen.

"Let us," said Steve, compassion entering his eyes as he placed a hand on her arm. "Your home has been attacked, your door won't close, and your pet has been killed. You should find out how to relocate. We'll get Denna to the ship, have the doctor check her out to make sure she'll be okay, and I'll make  _sure_  to let you know how she's doing." Sheila nodded dumbly.

"I'll stay and help you sort things out," said Samantha, coming to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "No one should have to go through this alone. Can you manage on your own, Steve?"

"Yes, I'll be fine," he said, prodding Denna to her feet, allowing her to lean on him, helping her to regain her balance. He took her straight to Dr. Chakwas once they'd returned to the Normandy, explained that she'd vomited, maybe from shock? The doctor shooed him away and performed some tests, concluding that she was dehydrated and exhausted and given her a few injections. She bullied the weary engineer into a bed, not wanting her trying to rest in the crew quarters, and dimmed the lights. She settled into work, and noticed that Denna was asleep within a few minutes, snoring slightly. A smile graced her lips as she continued working.

* * *

Liara was checking in on her father, having recently spoken with her for the first time at Shepard's persistent urging. She had caught up to Denna on her way off the ship, and been surprised by the fire in her eyes, the anger in her expression. She'd said that she was glad Liara was okay, but needed to go make sure Sheila was alive, and then she had run off. Liara didn't really know what to do with that information, but settled on the fact that if she were in her position, no matter their recent past, she'd want to know how the woman fared.

Liara went to the remains of the café, now in smoking ruins, already being salvaged by the proprietor, but there was no sign of her father there. He said he hadn't heard from her, and continued his work, no longer concerned with the asari in front of him.

She finally tracked her down in the embassies, oddly enough.  _Maybe not that odd – she_ _was_ _assigned by the government to watch me_. Aethyta spotted her and strode over, indicating with a nod of her head that she should follow. Liara fell in beside her, and they left together, not too close – not close enough to look like they were on overly familiar terms. People had seen them at the café speaking, sure, but leaving the embassies together just hours after a Cerberus coup attempt would be another thing entirely. They walked to the wards, eventually giving up their ruse of not walking together, and coming closer so as to speak.

"Were you hurt during the attack?" Liara looked up into her father's face.

"No," Aethyta answered, waving her concern away. "I'm fine. You were on the ground, weren't you? Are  _you_  okay?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," assured Liara, nodding her head slightly.

"Well, good. I'd have to kick someone's ass out an airlock if they'd touched you." Liara smiled. "You hungry? I was in my apartment during the attack, and I kept them from trashing it."

"You…  _kept_  them from trashing it?"

"Yeah. I am a biotic of almost a thousand years, kid. I kicked some ass, took some names. You shoulda been there – it would've been fun!"

Liara consented to a meal, shaking her head and smiling as they walked.

"Well, I don't think I ever expected  _this_ ," said Liara upon entering. It wasn't much bigger than other apartments, but the decorating, furniture, paintings, were all so  _exquisitely_  elegant. It reminded her of her mother's tastes.

"Well, tell me how you  _really_  feel about me," said Aethyta, moving to the kitchen and beginning to prepare a meal for the two of them.

"I'm sorry," she said, blushing slightly. "It's just all so like my mother. And so unlike you…"

"I know, I know, I'm a hard-ass. But I can still have expensive tastes," said Aethyta, placing plates on the table and gesturing Liara to sit across from her. "Why don't you tell me what's happened in the last few weeks, though? We both know Cerberus is a giant bag of dicks – no need to beat an animal that's already dead."

Liara smiled wryly at her father's use of words, but indulged her. "The human I spoke to you of? The one I was going to take to dinner? Well, we, uh…"

"Oooo, you finally put that bed to use?! Was she worth it? Gotta be sexier than a hanar…" Liara flushed. "Oh, stop that. You don't have to give me the details, I can figure it out on my own. Has she come back for more? Or did she run like some of them do?"

She shook her head, clearing her throat slightly. "No, she didn't run. In fact, she looked at me like I was crazy when I asked her if she was interested in sticking around. She's… well, she has surprised me. I wasn't expecting someone like her. But I've also learned quite a bit about her, too. She's married-"

"I'll kill her," interjected Aethyta suddenly, half-rising from the table. Liara's hand on her arm stopped her.

"No, father, she's not married like  _that_. She's very close to settling a divorce – it's a long story, I suppose, but, essentially, she's available, and I don't mind that it's so close to the end of her marriage. Maybe if the times were different, or if we weren't stuck on a ship together, I'd feel differently, but now, with the state the galaxy is in, it really doesn't bother me."

"You're both taking comfort where you can, I can understand that." Aethyta nodded and sat back down, continuing her meal. "Where is she right now?"

"I ran into her on her way off the ship. She was headed to check on her – wife? – to make sure she was okay." Aethyta just looked at her. "Well, if I were in her position, I'd still want to know. Wouldn't you?" Aethyta shook her head and took a bite of her food.

They continued talking until the end of the meal, then Liara made her goodbyes – she really needed to get back to the Normandy, monitor data, try to catch Cerberus chatter, check in with her agents on the Citadel and see who survived. It was going to be a long night. She would try to check in on Denna in a few hours, see how her soon-to-be ex-wife had fared during the attack, and perhaps take a break from work – if she had the time, of course.

* * *

Shepard had a datapad in her hand, and was looking for Engineer Halanz. She wasn't in Engineering or the crew quarters, nor down with James. She didn't know the engineer well, but she prided herself on knowing a little about her whole crew. So it had been quite the surprise when she was entrusted with delivering the news of the woman's finalized divorce – she'd had no idea that she'd even been married. And on this day, the day the Citadel was attacked… the poor woman. She chastised herself to do more than a cursory look through people's service records from now on, even if the service was standard, with no standout occurrences.

"You're wandering the ship, Commander. Did you need assistance with something?" EDI's voice played to her in the elevator.

Shepard sighed. "Yeah, okay. I'm looking for Engineer Halanz. Know where I can find her?"

"Yes, she is in the infirmary."

"What?! What happened to her?"

"I do not know, Commander. Lieutenant Cortez brought her back on board several hours ago. Would you like me to ask Doctor Chakwas?"

"No." She hit the button for Deck Three. "I'll be there in a minute and find out myself."

She stepped into the medbay a couple of minutes later. Doctor Chakwas had stepped out, and the engineer in question lay peacefully in one of the beds. Shepard shifted awkwardly; she didn't really know how to open the conversation. When she'd found James in the shuttle bay, she'd asked him for advice, since she knew he and the young engineer were good friends. She couldn't tell him exactly what the news was, but she said it was important, and probably not happy. James had sighed and told her to be gentle, that she was going through a lot. He wouldn't elaborate, probably for the same reasons she wouldn't elaborate on what was contained in the datapad, but this gentler side of him had surprised her.  _I guess people act differently off the battlefield_.

She was spared having to decide whether she should wake the woman or not, as the woman in question started awake as Shepard came near. Her eyes got wide at the sight of her CO, and she made to get up, before Shepard stopped her. "At ease, soldier," she said, smiling gently. "Stay in the bed, it's okay. Should I ask what happened? Usually people who end up in here have very obvious bruises or broken limbs to tell why they're here." She smirked. "And they were usually being shot at, not fixing wiring in Engineering."

Denna smiled, settling back into the bed. "Nothing so fun, I'm afraid, Commander. I was treated for dehydration and exhaustion. The doctor didn't want me trying to rest in the crew quarters – too much activity all over the ship after the attack. So she bribed me into this bed with promises of whiskey and naked women."

Shepard laughed. Denna was gratified to know she could pull a laugh out of such a famously hard-assed woman. "I think it took me all of five minutes to completely pass out." She was quiet a moment, reflecting on the events of the afternoon. Sheila had grieved with her, touched her, let her cry, and she hadn't even complained when Denna has puked on the floor. Maybe there was still something there? But Baxter – oh, Baxter. The poor dog was dead, shot through by a Cerberus soldier. "Commander," she spoke suddenly, her eyes focusing on Shepard's face, sitting next to her bed. "You need to crush Cerberus." She didn't offer any other explanation. She couldn't.

"I'm working on it." Shepard blew out a long breath and looked at the datapad in her hand. Denna had an idea of what was in it, and it crushed any previous thoughts she'd had of something still being there. "I came here to give you this," she indicated the datapad, "but it can wait until you're feeling better."

"I can take it now," Denna said, narrowing her eyes at the datapad. She made a grab for the pad, so Shepard handed it over. It was what she had suspected, a notice that her divorce was finalized, that she was no longer legally bound to Sheila, and that their bank account had been dissolved. She had one month to claim her funds. She sighed and lay back on the bed, all thoughts of reconciliation gone. She sighed. "Well, I guess it's done, then."

"You okay?"

"Sure. I just still don't know whether I wanna shoot her in the face, or be glad that I don't have any reason to associate with her anymore. I saw her today," she added thoughtfully, not caring that she was talking to her CO, a relative stranger.

"Oh? She lives on the Citadel?" Denna nodded. "Is she okay? She wasn't hurt in the attack?"

Denna shook her head. "No, her office held them until it was safe. But, well… I went to our apartment – her apartment now I guess– and found my dog dead. They shot him, Commander. Those Cerberus bastards shot him right through the chest." Shepard gasped. Denna blinked away some tears. "I know a lot of people died today, and that this is just a dog. But I raised him from a puppy. I guess now I really  _do_  have no reason to see her anymore." She sighed, reining in her emotions. "Sorry, Commander, I didn't mean to get all emotional on you."

"Hey, no worries. The whole galaxy is going to shit – it's unfair that you've had to go through a divorce along with the rest of it. I saw in your file that you grew up in one of the colonies the Collectors hit. Did your family make it?" Denna shook her head. "Damn. I'm sorry. Fuck… Um. It seems like James is a really good friend? Take what comfort you can. I'll try not to get him shot at too much. And I've noticed you spending time with Traynor and Cortez?"

"Yeah. They were all there today, in fact. James took care of the body. Samantha helped Sheila figure out what to do about her trashed apartment, and Steve got my ass to Chakwas. I owe all of them pretty big." She sighed. "Hopefully I'll be able to deliver."

Just then, Liara entered the medbay and hurried over. "I had no idea you were in here. Traynor told me as I boarded the ship." She completely ignored the fact that Shepard was sitting next to the bed, went to the other side of it, and kissed the engineer gently. "Are you okay?"

Denna nodded, happy that Liara was here now, but painfully aware of Shepard's presence. Liara followed her gaze, saw Shepard staring, her mouth slightly open, and smiled apologetically. Shepard recovered quickly, got up, mumbled something about privacy, and exited the medbay, shaking her head slightly. Liara kissed Denna once again before settling into the chair Shepard had just vacated. Denna told her about what she'd found at Sheila's apartment. She told her about James coming in, Samantha staying with Sheila, Steve getting her back to the Normandy. Liara's expression grew more and more guilty. She said she should have accompanied the engineer, but Denna just shook her head.

"I brushed you off when I left for a reason, even if I was rude. I didn't want you coming along – too much weirdness. Besides, it seemed like you had a purpose when you were leaving, too."

Liara nodded. "That's true, I did."

"Well?"

"I – my father? We've become acquainted in the last few weeks, and I wanted to check to make sure she made it through the attack. She did," she added at Denna's prompting expression.

"Your father. Wow. I thought you didn't know who he- she was. I had no idea you'd met her. You've become used to keeping things to yourself," Denna chided, sitting up. "I understand, given your, ah… profession. But if we want more from this," she said, taking Liara's hand in hers, removing the glove, and interlocking their fingers, "then we both need to be a little more upfront about this kind of stuff." She let go of the asari's hand and offered the glove back up. Liara took it gently. "If you don't want more, that's fine. But in all honesty, Liara, you've got me under your spell and I'm falling – and I don't mind. Just be careful with me? I've gone through a lot of shit in the last year."

An emotion welled up in Liara at those words, so strong that the only thing she could do to  _begin_  to express it was to take the human woman into her arms and kiss her, pouring as much of it as she could into that kiss.

Chakwas entered at that time. "Oh, I see. Well, Halanz, you're free to go," she said, clearly a little flustered. The engineer practically jumped out of the bed, thanked the doctor for her care, grabbed her boots, and got out of the room as quickly as she could walk. Before she could stop, though, Liara took her hand and redirected her, pulling her toward her cabin, spectators in the mess hall be damned.

* * *

Denna's clothes were on the floor, and she was working steadily on ridding Liara of the rest of hers, freeing her marvelous blue breasts and taking them into her mouth. Liara had freckles all down her body, and Denna seemed to be trying very hard to cover each one of them with her lips or hands. Liara's passion was rising, and she could barely stand it. When the last item of her clothing was removed, she pushed Denna to the bed and climbed on top of her, kissing her mouth, her breasts, her stomach, and tasting her sex. It was fascinating to her, so like her own, and yet so unlike it. She marveled at her clitoris, that little bundle of eight thousand nerve endings, and at her body hair – asari didn't have any. She knew herself how good it felt to be filled with someone's hand, so she buried three of her fingers inside of Denna even as she explored the human's folds with her tongue.

Denna could not keep quiet, which just made Liara smirk and her heart pound. Shepard knew, Chakwas knew, her father knew – why bother being so discreet and polite anymore? Hadn't Aethyta said, "If it's all civilized, then you're not doing it right" while they spoke earlier? So she pushed Denna to the edge of her orgasm very quickly, but backed off before her climax, having made a decision. They hadn't yet bonded – something had held her back. But now she wanted nothing more than to bond with this short, tanned, muscular engineer with the green eyes and short black hair. She wanted to be inside her mind, and she wanted to share herself in this way that was unique to her people. She kept her fingers where they were, but stilled them, coming up to Denna's face. She found both of Denna's hands on her face immediately, pulling her into another of her fiery kisses. The look in her eyes was almost pleading.

"Are you ready?" Denna nodded desperately, her eyes growing large and her hands travelling to hold Liara, one in the small of her back, one caressing the sensitive folds of flesh at the back of her neck. Liara's eyes grew black – she no longer needed to say the words aloud in order to initiate the meld, thanks to the knowledge bonds she'd shared with Shepard.

Denna fell into a void, finding herself again when Liara began to move her fingers inside of her. Images floated in front of her: Liara as a child; Liara's mother; Liara's time with a previous lover, an asari who'd worked with her for a time while she was still a simple archaeologist.

Liara had a harder time making sense of Denna's thoughts – they were erratic, as the human had never shared them with another before without words to organize them. She let them wash over her, enjoying image after image of women, James, Steve, Traynor, Commander Shepard, an older man and woman that might have been her parents, Baxter, Sheila, the drive core, a welding torch, her guitar. Sounds mingled in with the images, music, the feeling of dancing, and the soaring sensation in her stomach when Liara had dragged her off to her bed in front of everyone not too long ago.

She plunged her fingers in as deep as she could, flicking Denna's clitoris and tugging on her hair at the same time. Denna was swept over the edge, caught in the sudden wave of sensation – her eyes screwed up and she practically screamed. Liara was almost overwhelmed – asari did not have physical orgasms like this. Their climax was much more fluid, gentle, more a series of small waves. This felt like she'd hit a brick wall of pleasure. Literally feeling Denna's orgasm as she did – enhanced by this mental connection – feeling Denna clamp down around her hand, pushed Liara into her own climax, despite not having yet been touched or stimulated in any way. She did not hold it back from Denna – she wanted to share everything with this small, seemingly unimportant woman. All thought disappeared, leaving them with each other's naked emotion and pleasure, explosions of color going off behind their eyes.

* * *

Shepard looked up at her door when it beeped. "Come in." Liara walked in. It had been several hours since she'd seen her last, when the asari had walked in and kissed her engineer right in front of her. Shepard still didn't know what to make of that. And to make matters worse, or perhaps more amusing – she couldn't decide which she felt – she could have sworn that Liara had a slightly disheveled look, like her hair would be mussed, if she had any hair.  _They had sex_ , she realized.

"Shepard. I… thought we should speak. About earlier." She came to stand in front of the commander, wringing her hands. "I hope you weren't upset."

"Liara, I'm not upset," she said, genuinely meaning it. "I was surprised, sure. I still am. I'm assuming you know that her divorce was finalized  _today_?" Liara nodded. "I guess I'm more upset that I had no idea. You got sneaky, T'Soni." She winked and grinned with the last, and Liara visibly relaxed. She took the seat offered her, and sipped at the wineglass placed in her hand. "It certainly seems like she could use the distraction, and comfort. So could you."

"As could you, Shepard. I know your Communications Specialist would love to offer it to you, and I know you know – is there some reason you don't indulge?"

"Traynor is certainly attractive," Shepard confessed, watching her wine as she swirled it in her glass, then taking a sip. "And I enjoy her company. But…"

"But what?"

Shepard sighed. "It's been so long since I've been with anyone. Since before Cerberus brought me back. Since Tali…"

Liara let out a little sigh. "Shepard…"

"Look, I know she moved on. And I don't blame her. I died. She thought I was still dead for two  _years_. And I've accepted it. But… but I haven't been with anyone since her."

"I can see how that would be daunting." The asari took a sip of her wine. "Perhaps you should indulge anyway, though. We are in a war. You take fire every time you go on a mission. Perhaps someone to relax with would be a good thing. And Samantha isn't a risk – you already know she is attracted to you, and you don't have to risk her getting shot out in the field."

Shepard bit her lip, not meeting the asari's gaze. "Maybe you're right. She's brilliant, attractive... I enjoy her company a great deal." She looked up at the asari. "So… how did you get involved with my night-shift engineer? Like, how did that  _happen_?"

Liara smiled. "I… she sang for me, actually. While I made her coffee for a hangover." Shepard raised her eyebrows. "I stumbled on her with her guitar, looking for coffee, and she sang for me. It's very cliché, I realize. But I was fascinated. Then we walked in on her dancing with Cortez and Vega, and I was… caught, I believe is the human phrasing?"

"Caught like a fish on a hook," said Shepard, nodding appreciatively at her engineer's wiles.

"Well, as you say, I was hooked. And I kept making reasons to run into her when no one else was around. Then I did something very unconventional." Shepard looked at her questioningly. "I asked her to dinner," she said with a smile. Shepard laughed. That  _was_ unconventional for Liara. "Things proceeded naturally from there."

"When did you start having sex," asked Shepard, unable to keep herself from grinning.

Liara glared, but they were good enough friends, and the asari had asked similar questions about her and Tali after they went to bed together after Ilos, when she'd still only ever been with another asari, so Shepard didn't feel bad. "After Grissom Academy," she said quietly. She had a look in her eye that Shepard couldn't quite identify, like she was remembering… a  _very_  good time.

"Ah.  _That's_  where you disappeared to. And that would be why she appeared in the shuttle bay when we got back?" Liara nodded. "You didn't do it in the shuttle bay, did you?"

"Goddess, no, Shepard!" Shepard just laughed. They talked for another half-hour before Liara excused herself; she  _had_  left a rather naked engineer in her room.

* * *

Liara entered her quarters to find Denna sitting on the edge of the bed, completely bare, playing the guitar quietly. Liara had found someone who could fix it on the Citadel, before the Cerberus attack, and while it didn't look as pretty as it had before it had been broken, it sounded wonderful. She'd surprised Denna with it an hour before, after they'd made love, and Denna had been so delighted, she didn't even mind that Liara wanted to go make nice with Shepard.

"I see you're still pleased with it," said Liara, coming in and sitting next to her on the unmade bed.

"Are you kidding?! It's wonderful! I can't thank you enough, Liara." She set it down beside her and straddled the asari's lap. The scent of her sex came to Liara, who was almost overpowered by the images from not two hours earlier that came with it. She kissed her heatedly, running her fingers down her naked back, wishing her own clothes would simply melt away. "Liara, I… you are so wonderful. How'd I ever manage to get your attention?"

Liara looked her right in the eyes, her conversation with Shepard still fresh in her mind. She caressed her face and kissed her again. "You sang for me, Denna. You called to me, and I answered."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is a chapter I completely rewrote. It was originally this weird scene involving swing dancing on the Citadel, and it's really just better this way. So. Yeah. Enjoy!

**Chapter 6**

"Engineer Halanz, I need your help with something. Uh… wait a minute, EDI, you said she was in here."

"She is, Commander."

Denna pulled back her welder's mask and looked through the grating she was currently suspended under to see that Commander Shepard had walked in. "Gimme a minute, Commander! I'm under here."

The redhead's green eyes snapped to the floor, focusing on Denna's face immediately. "What in the world are you doing down there?"

In answer, Denna replaced the mask and quickly finished what she had been doing.

Shepard stared at her incredulously as she crawled back over the safety railing. "We still weld this stuff? Like, by  _hand_?"

Denna snorted. "Yes, Commander. Someone has to. And I happen to be pretty good at it. And I love it." She dusted off her hands and settled into a salute. "You needed to ask me something, Commander?"

Shepard immediately got a shifty look. "Uh, yeah… At ease." Denna stopped saluting, going over to her workstation and depositing her welder's mask on it. "You, uh… you're friends with Traynor, right?"

Denna knit her brows. "Yes, we're friends."

"Good, good… I, uh…"

Denna raised a brow. "Commander, is something wrong? Is she in trouble or something?"

"In trouble? God, no. She's perfect." Shepard's eyes leapt up to Denna's face, a shocked expression flitting across her features, as if she wished she hadn't just said that out loud at least.

"I see… Permission to speak freely, ma'am?"

"Granted."

"Do you like her?"

Shepard visibly flinched. "What?!"

Denna smirked a little. "Do you like Samantha Traynor, Commander? Do you think she's attractive?" She folded her arms over her chest, cocking her hip. "She's a good-lookin' girl, Commander. I  _certainly_  wouldn't blame you."

Shepard's mouth hung open for a moment before she snapped it shut and smiled sheepishly. "Is it that obvious?"

Denna snickered. " _She's_  certainly that obvious. Plus, I, uh,  _might_  have caught you staring at her ass a couple of times."

"Dammit," Shepard muttered, closing her eyes and shaking her head. When she opened them back up, green eyes, a slightly different shade from her own, were resting on her face. "I was wondering, since you clearly know how to get a lady, if you would be willing to, um… help me?"

Denna knit her brows. "With what?"

Her CO sighed. "I haven't… I have no idea how to tell her."

Denna laughed. "Just tell her, Commander."

"Just like that?"

Denna shrugged. "That's always  _my_  MO, Shepard. I tend to be a pretty direct person." She leaned against her workstation, considering the woman in front of her. Shepard was almost a foot taller than she was, with eternally-mussed red hair, and brilliant green eyes. Her skin was pale, freckled, with scars of all shapes and sizes adorning it. The woman clearly took a lot of fire, and from the way she would box with Diego, she probably took a lot just so she could lull her target close enough to take it out.

Thinking of her fighting gave her an idea. "Why don't you invite her up to your cabin to play one of those strategy games she loves so much?"

Shepard sighed. "I thought about it, but I have no idea how to play any of them."

"Well, that's actually kind of perfect!" Denna stood again, unfolding her arms and rubbing her palms together. "Think about it, Commander! You can have her  _teach_  you! It's the perfect way to force casual interaction."

"She  _does_  seem a little stiff around me… and she babbles."

Denna nodded. "Like an idiot. Get her doing something she enjoys, let her geek out a little. Then tell her how you feel, if you like. Or be all suave and smooth about it. Whatever."

Shepard regarded her silently for a moment. "You're an interesting character, Halanz." She turned to go, looking over her shoulder. "Thanks. For the advice."

Denna smirked. Turning back to her workstation, she wondered when Samantha would come running to her, shrieking like a schoolgirl.

* * *

Liara entered the lift with a box in her hands. She hadn't shown it to Denna yet, wasn't sure she ever would – the small human was a part of her life that she wanted to keep as free from the trouble of the Crucible as possible. But Shepard knew, she had been there from the beginning, and she was the hero in this story. She deserved to be in this time capsule, this safeguard against future annihilation if they failed in this cycle.

It had been a week since her conversation with Shepard, the evening she and Denna had Joined for the first time, the day their relationship had become known to the Spectre. She remembered that night fondly. They had made love once more when she had returned to find the naked engineer strumming her guitar, Liara's declaration greeted enthusiastically by Denna's kisses and roving hands.

Sifting through the human's thoughts was a breathtaking experience. Liara let them wash over her, appreciating this chance to simply see what passed before the human's eyes as she made love to the asari. Another might find it strange to see such things, but she was asari – she knew a person had little control over what her mind was reminded of. Liara was actually flattered by the things brought to Denna's mind when they were together. James, Samantha, the Normandy, her home colony, her parents, her dead dog, her early days with her ex-wife: they were all warm things, full of love and memories. Liara was happy to be the one that reminded the human of all the things that had ever been good in her life.

Her only previous experience with Joining had been with another asari, a much older asari who had mentored her early in her career. The relationship had been a power imbalance that should have never happened, but Liara hadn't been capable of denying herself once the older asari Matron had made her interest abundantly clear. She had learned a lot, though. And it had given her a great degree of control for the knowledge melds she had later shared with Shepard.

But it was a very different experience from Joining with Denna. The human had no control over her thoughts, her mind being the one place no one else ever ventured. She was good at ignoring her own intrusive thoughts, though, almost pushing them aside. And she was getting accustomed to Liara's presence, fighting it less, cherishing it more. The last time Liara had been greeted by enthusiasm rather than surprise, even. But it was still different, being the one in charge of the Joining, of how deep the Meld went and where she ventured within the human's undisciplined mind.

The lift jerked to a stop, bringing Liara back to the present moment. Stepping off the lift, she noted that the interface of Shepard's door was red.

_Strange. She never locks her door…_

"EDI, Shepard is  _in_  her cabin, correct?"

"Yes, that is correct, Dr. T'Soni."

_Strange…_

She hit the bell, as the humans called it – some reference to an archaic notification system from Earth, hundreds of years before – and waited for a response.

"Yeah, what did you need Liara?"

A hologram of Shepard's face had popped up. Liara raised a brow. "I had something to show you, Shepard."

"I'm, uh… a little busy. Is it important?"

The asari's brow furrowed; this was definitely strange behavior for the Commander. "It is important, but it can wait until a better time…"

Silence for a minute, Shepard looking over her shoulder and speaking, her omnitool on mute. Then, "Yeah, okay. Just… give me a minute?"

The hologram disappeared. Who was she talking to? Was someone in there with her? Before she could speculate further, her questions were answered: Specialist Traynor appeared as the door slid open, her uniform untucked and her hair mussed. She stammered an apology and hurried around the asari, slinking quickly past her and into the lift. Liara just stared for a moment before turning around to find an equally disheveled Shepard standing at the door, a vague grin on her face.

She raised a brow and smirked at her friend "'Busy', were you?"

Shepard had the decency to look embarrassed. "I, uh, took your advice. Yours and your, uh,  _girlfriend's_. Traynor came up to teach me to play chess."

Liara smirked. "It looks like you may have taught  _her_  something instead?"

Shepard grinned. "No, no I think I still learned quite a bit. Just, you know, not about chess."

Liara laughed. "Let me in, and serve me some of your wine." She shoved past the human, the box still in her hands. "I have something important to show you.

* * *

Denna sat on her bed, head cocked in the direction of Samantha's bunk. She hadn't slept in here in days, but she thought she'd take a quick nap during the swing shift. She was currently staring at where Traynor usually kept her silly chess set that she'd gotten from the Citadel during their first stop there. But it was currently not there. And Sam wasn't at her workstation, it not being her shift, nor in any of their usual hangouts – she was just putting two and two together when the door opened to the crew quarters, revealing Sam, her hair disheveled and her shirt untucked.

She looked up and smirked. "Have a good time playing chess, Sam?"

Sam froze. "I… Um…"

"Uh huh. Tell you what. Why don't we go take advantage of the group showers and you can tell me all about it, huh?"

Five minutes later, they were each showering under their own crappy showerhead in the ladies' restroom, Samantha sharing in animated detail what had occurred just two hours before. Apparently, Shepard had taken Denna's advice, inviting Samantha up to play chess. A few drinks had been had, and before Samantha knew it, Shepard was confessing her crush on the Specialist. Traynor, not being one to let a good thing go to waste, had almost literally jumped the woman.

"So, wait… You crawled right into her lap when she told you," Denna tried to clarify, washing her hair and trying hard not to stare at the other woman's body. Which had just been ravished. By Shepard.  _Fuck, why do I have to make friends with other lesbians?_

"Well, not  _exactly_ ," Samantha admitted, tilting her head back to rinse her hair.  _Fuck, stop looking, Denna. Picture Liara naked. In_ _her_ _shower._  An image of the sky blue naked asari flashed before her eyes.  _There. That's better._

"So what  _exactly_  happened, then?!"

Samantha plunged her face under the pressure-less stream of water, gasping and sputtering as she came back out, beginning to rub facewash in small circles. "Well, I was sitting right next to her, ostensibly to teach her how to move a chess piece. So I just leaned over and kissed her. I was a little drunk, and couldn't think of anything to say in response. It wasn't until we'd been making out for a few minutes that I finally realized that she's bigger than me and probably wouldn't mind if I crawled into her lap."

"Dammit, this is weirder in the shower than I thought," Denna muttered as she experienced an unwanted itch between her legs at the image. She was always a very sexual person, and while she was faithful to a fault, that didn't stop her from finding all kinds of women sexy. Hell, she'd even found Diego sexy in his own way that one night they'd slept together.

"I agree. But it  _is_  the only room on the ship we'd be likely to find empty at this hour," Samantha reminded her. "Our only eavesdropper is the ship itself. EDI?"

EDI's voice came to them somewhat muffled in the steamy room. "Yes, Specialist Traynor?"

"Please refrain from repeating anything you saw up there or heard in here –  _or_  in there."

"Of course, Specialist Traynor. I have… learned my lesson, regarding gossip, thanks to Engineer Halanz."

"Good," Denna retorted, smiling. "Well, Sam, you take longer than me. I'm all done. I'll see you in the lounge for drinks?"

"Okay, see you in a bit."

* * *

Samantha and Denna exited the lounge in fits of laughter. "I can't believe I basically just got you laid!"

"And a damn fine job you did of it, too," added Samantha. "We may  _both_  be spending our nights out of those crap Alliance barracks bunks."

Liara's voice reached her ears, cutting off any reply she may have made.

"You didn't tell me you were going to be gossiping about us." Liara's tone was short and sharp, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Um… I think that's my cue. Good luck!" Sam then ran off to the crew quarters, leaving Denna alone to fend for herself.

"I, uh… well, I wasn't exactly  _gossiping_ , so much as…"

"Gossiping," Liara finished for her, arms crossed over her chest, an eyebrow raised.

"Um… Am I in trouble, Liara?"

Liara suddenly scooped her up, literally hoisting her up to straddle her hips, eliciting a small yelp from the human. "No," she said, kissing her deeply against the wall of the hallway. "I just had my own plans for you." And she carried her off in the direction of her office.

* * *

Later, after they'd had amazingly quick and dirty sex, and then made much slower love to each other, they lay exhausted and thoroughly sated in each other's arms. "So, Shepard came to you for advice?"

Denna smiled. "Yeah," she said, tracing the shape of Liara's scalp-tentacles with one hand as she held the woman in her arms. "She came into Engineering and asked me how to tell Sam she liked her. It seems she took my advice to heart. I'm glad – Sam deserved it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they got me through all my shit, and I got you. I owed her. I owe Steve and Diego, too, but at least I got Sam laid," she said with a grin. Liara laughed in shock, still not accustomed to Denna's willingness to use such language out of the blue the way that she did. "Maybe I can set up Diego and Steve with some friends I have on the Citadel." She looked down at Liara, kissing her tenderly. "So what was with earlier?"

"Mmmm," cooed Liara. "It was rather… unconventional of me, I know." She kissed her again. "But you disappeared, and I had been working so hard to get my work done so I could come see you while you were still not working. I needed a break after the horrors we saw at the monastery yesterday. When EDI informed me that you were drinking in the lounge with Samantha, after I had just seen her run out of Shepard's cabin, I got suspicious. I was also a little sullen that you were spending your time with her and not with me. Childish, I know. I got over it quickly. I remembered something my father recently told me, and… well, let's just say that wasn't entirely my idea."

"Mmmm, it was so sexy, I'm willing to ignore the fact that you took sexual advice from your father," teased Denna, pulling Liara up so she could kiss her more easily. A few minutes later, however, Denna had to leave to start her shift in Engineering. With one last parting kiss, she left, Liara getting up and beginning to work once more.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Liara hit the chime to be let in to Shepard's cabin.

"Yeah, come in!"

She let herself in, a bottle of wine in-hand. She found Shepard sitting at her desk, staring at a picture of her and Tali together, taken in an intimate moment. The holo was the only time Liara had seen the quarian unmasked. "How did it go?"

The Commander sighed, sliding the frame facedown on her desk. "Fine. I guess…" She slid her face into her hands and slumped. "Fuck, what did I get myself into, Liara?"

She put her hand on Shepard's shoulder, rubbing it in circles. "What happened?"

A sigh, a shrug. "We talked."

Liara barely contained her eye-roll. "Shepard. You are lacking in critical details."

The human looked up from where she'd been cradling her head in her hands. "What am I supposed to say? Nothing's changed."

"Shepard," she said sternly.

Another sigh. "We love each other. That's never changed. But being with me again is too much heartache. And… Samantha…"

"Do you love her, Shepard?"

"Fuck… yes. Already. It was the same with Tali. That  _fucking_  innocent geekiness is just so fucking adorable. It pulls me in like nothing else ever has."

Liara chuckled. "You  _do_  seem to have a type, it's true."

Shepard snorted. Then sighed again. "So she came up here and we talked. We agreed that we'll always be friends, but that two years dead does a lot to someone's heart. It wasn't a normal break-up – she  _mourned_. And I can't even imagine what that was like. I tried so hard to find out what happened to her, and then we ran into her in Freedom's Progress, and she fucking  _fainted_. And when she woke up she pushed me away, didn't want to work with me. She got  _angry_ , Liara. She was  _pissed_. Here I was, not only alive, but working for Cerberus right after the bastards had tried to compromise the Fleet. And I had no idea. I was stuck, because no one else was doing anything about the Collectors. And the one person who could make it better wanted nothing to do with me."

Liara moved around her to sit on the edge of the desk. "You never told me all of this."

She shook her head. "It was too soon. Too raw. And I was a little pissed at  _you_ , not coming with me, doing your vendetta on the Shadow Broker. I didn't feel like sharing."

A pang of guilt hit her heart, but she'd gotten pretty good at pushing that one aside. Still, she couldn't help a biting remark. "You don't seem to mind me having taken over his resources and using them for the Alliance."

Shepard buried her face in her hands. "I know. I'm sorry. I was pissed at the time, but I'm not anymore. It was just… a hard time. Familiar faces were what I wanted. Joker helped. And Garrus. And Tali eventually got over her anger and decided to help, but she told me she couldn't come back to  _me_. She just couldn't open herself up to me like that again, not after mourning for me."

Liara nodded. "Yes, we spoke about that when you would visit Hagalaz."

Shepard smiled, looking up at her. "You two are pretty good friends, huh?"

Liara nodded, smiling. "She is a sweet girl, and she has become quite capable. Admiral… I think her father would be proud."

Shepard nodded, then sighed yet again. "I told her about Samantha. She was happy for me. But there was…  _something_  in her voice. I believe her that she's moved on from me, but I don't think she moved on to anyone else."

Liara shook her head. "I  _know_  she hasn't."

Shepard closed her eyes. "And I haven't told Samantha."

Liara was shocked. "You haven't?! But… why not?"

Shepard shrugged. "She makes me happy. Thinking about Tali makes me sad. I didn't wanna mix the two up."

Liara shook her head. "Sometimes you and Denna could be sisters, you're both so simple in your explanations."

Shepard smirked. "We  _are_  both in the Alliance – James, Ash, and Joker are all just as simple."

Liara thought for a moment. "That's true. Perhaps it is something about combat. Or your military training…"

Shepard snickered. "Stop overthinking it, T'Soni. It makes my head hurt."

"Fine. But tell Samantha." Liara activated Shepard's omnitool for her. "Right now."

Shepard stared as Samantha answered the hail Liara had entered. "But… fine, you're right." She sat up, turned so Liara wouldn't be in the camera's view. "Hey, Sam. I, uh, need you to come up to my cabin when you have a sec, okay?"

* * *

"Denna, I need to talk to you."

Denna furrowed her brows at the hologram of Samantha's face, suspended before her by her omnitool. "Okay… so talk." She shoveled another forkful of her pasta into her mouth.

"I need you to come to the CIC. I… need to talk. Right now."

If Denna hadn't been able to see her face, she still would've heard that her friend was upset. Looking down at her food regretfully, she nodded to Samantha, closed her omnitool, and got up. Looking around, she shoved a few more bites in and dumped her tray on the counter, jogging over to the lift as she tried heroically to chew and swallow several mouthfuls worth of food.

She managed by the time she got a floor up. "What can I do for you, milady," she joked, stepping off the lift. Sam stood at her station, staring at something in her hands, clearly not seeing it at all. "Sam?"

Sam shook her head, as if coming out of a reverie or trance. "Denna?"

"Yeah, Sam. What's wrong?"

"I…" She put her face in one of her hands. "I don't know what to think."

Denna came up next to her, leaning back on her workstation. "Don't know what to think about what?"

"This." She indicated the framed photo in her hand. Denna took it and found that it was a holo of a strange-looking woman. Her skin was pale, with a slight purple tinge; her face had black lines of hair leading from her brow to her hairline; she had long, waving locks of hair flowing down her back. Next to her sat a smiling Shepard with tousled hair, kissing the woman's cheek, her arm around the woman's shoulder. While it didn't show any inappropriate details, it was clear that neither of the two women were wearing any clothes.

"Who is this, Sam?"

Samantha spoke quietly, so as not to be overheard by the other people in the room. "It's Tali'Zora vas Normandy – Tali, the quarian who helped Shepard against Saren three years ago." She sighed. "They… were together."

"Well, I would certainly hope so, 'cuz they're naked in this," Denna quipped, earning herself a smack from her friend.

"This is serious, Denna! I'm having actual  _feelings_  right now, and I would appreciate it if you would help me figure out what they are!" Her stern tone was somewhat ruined by her half smile.

"Ow, okay, fine! So what… happened? I know she's on the ship – she's one of the quarian Admirals, right?" Samantha nodded, folding her arms self-consciously over her chest. "Did she… dump you for her?"

"What?! No!"

"Did she ask if she could see her, too?"

"No. Nothing like that."

"Then… what happened? What's got you so upset, Sam?"

Samantha sighed. "Perhaps it's just that she didn't tell me they were an item until about a half an hour ago."

Denna winced. "Ouch." She regarded the picture for a moment. "Is it just that her old fling is here on the ship?"

"She wasn't a  _fling_ , Denna. Quarians can die from taking that suit off – you don't do that for a fling. They  _loved_  each other. And then…" Her eyes got far away as she continued. "And then Shepard… died. And Tali mourned. For two years. She moved on, I suppose. God, that poor woman…" Her eyes focused, and she turned her head to look Denna in the eyes. "But then Shepard came back, and Tali joined her to take on the Collectors. And I just don't know if I can believe that they weren't involved during that time."

Denna furrowed her brows. "What did Shepard  _say_ , exactly?"

"That Tali joined the team but… she had grieved, moved on."

Denna frowned. "Did she say anything about how  _she_  was feeling?"

"She said she… still loved her. That it wasn't a normal split, and she would always love the quarian to some extent."

Denna thought for a moment. "You know, that's kinda how I feel about Sheila, and neither of  _us_  died."

"What do you mean?"

Denna shrugged. "I'll always have loved her. That's always gonna be there. I still remember all the things I loved about her, and all the happy moments. I remember her blonde hair in my face when we had sex, the way she loved our dog, and I haven't ever had stuffed bell peppers like she makes them. I'm always gonna love her."

"Does… does Liara know that?"

"Of course." Denna smiled. "I told you about asari Joining?" Sam nodded. "She knows I still love Sheila, in my own way. But I want to be with Liara, and not with Sheila. While it's not the same, I bet it's similar for Shepard – they were in love, ripped apart tragically. Tali's here, and that makes her a little sad. But they've had some practice being friends, and Shepard chose  _you_  rather than trying to woo Tali back to her." She put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "She chose you, Sam. Tali's here, and she still chose  _you_."

Samantha stared down at her for a moment. "Maybe… maybe you're right. Perhaps… perhaps I should try speaking with Tali."

Denna nodded, smiling. "Oh, that's a good idea. Nip it in the bud, keep it from being awkward. I like it."

"You are generally pretty direct."

Denna chuckled. "It's true. Now. Why don't you finish up your shift – or! Better yet, since you're sleeping with our CO-" here, Samantha blushed "-why don't you ask her if you can leave your station for a bit and seek out this Admiral?"

Sam took in a deep breath. "I suppose if I give myself too much time to think about it, I'll never do it, will I?"

Denna shook her head. "No. No, you really won't."

"Very well," Sam said, pulling up her omnitool. "And… thank you, Denna. You're a good friend."

Denna smiled, heading back to the lift. "No problem, Sam."

* * *

Liara was the first off the geth transport. Before she could even take her helmet off, Samantha was running past her. Whirling on the spot, she was able to watch Shepard catch the Communications Specialist as she threw herself into the Spectre's arms.

"Oh, God, I had to listen to the whole thing! How could they  _do_  that to you?!"

"Shhh, Samantha, it's okay," Shepard soothed, cradling the woman in her arms as best should could in full hardsuit with her helmet still on.

Shepard had been a good girl and told Samantha everything earlier that day. The Specialist had been… quiet when Liara ran into her after their conversation. But then they had invaded the geth dreadnought, and the Admirals had tried to sacrifice Shepard, Tali, and herself while taking down the inert dreadnought. And Samantha, as the Communications officer on duty, had had to listen to all of it, on both sides. Liara would be very surprised if the Communications Specialist had been able to keep completely quiet.

Liara watched Tali staring at the two of them, her helmet cocked to the side curiously. She hadn't had a chance to speak to Tali about Shepard's relationship, or her own, for that matter. The quarian seemed interested, but not angry or jealous. Perhaps it just wasn't a good time – they  _had_  almost died, after all. Liara smiled ruefully; they had almost died a lot while on this ship. It was almost commonplace at this point.

Watching Shepard placate Samantha, who had just released the catch on Shepard's helmet and pulled it off so she could kiss the Spectre, Liara realized she really ought to talk to Denna, if only briefly, to assure her she was alright. Looking up at Tali watching Samantha and Shepard, Legion nearby with a similarly cocked head, she opted for a brief text message.

"It's okay, we're fine, everything's fine," Shepard continued. "I just have some  _business_  to attend to."

"If it's to rip the heads off those  _Admirals_ , I really think I'd like to watch," Sam replied, eyes narrowed in anger.

Shepard grinned. "That's my girl. But you can't watch. I need you up in the CIC, alright?" She looked at Liara, then Tali, narrowing her eyes, her sweaty hair clinging to her neck and face. "I'll take care of the Admirals…"

* * *

When Shepard had spoken with Tali in private, she had broken right through Tali's reserved demeanor, picking the quarian up and hugging her tightly. And Tali had been glad for it. It had been eight months since she'd seen the human, when she had dropped everyone off on the Citadel and turned the Normandy into the Alliance, after the Alpha Relay incident. They hadn't been lovers in more than three years – three years in which Tali had returned to the Flotilla, joined a new ship, took on a new name, and become an Admiral; most of it while grieving the human Commander who had saved her that day on the Citadel. She had figured out how to handle herself when she joined Shepard to take on the Collectors, but that eight months had made things… awkward again.

Shepard's directness broke right through the awkwardness. They had talked, openly and honestly. Tali had made it clear that, while she would always love the human, she was a different girl now – a woman, in fact, who had grieved and would not do it again. She just knew that they were too different now, too different from how they had been during those delicious two months when they had made love nightly, finally reveling in their feelings being out in the open. She had been sick for a week while she acclimated to the human, who had gone through her own little hell with injections provided by Chakwas. And then, suddenly and unexpectedly, she had died, leaving Tali alone and aimless. Garrus had helped for a while, but eventually she had to go back to the Flotilla, and then he disappeared.

No. While she still loved Shepard, and always would, there was too much pain there, too much bittersweet memory to try and rekindle their romance.

Beside that, it seemed Shepard had  _finally_  moved on herself.

Samantha Traynor was pretty, albeit very different from Shepard. She was shorter than the Commander, with dark hair and skin. Everyone said her voice sounded different, that she had a "sexy English accent," whatever that meant – Tali wouldn't know, using a translator as she did. After her conversation with Shepard, Traynor had sought Tali out in the War Room, introducing herself before asking for a minute of the quarian's time.

" _I… thought we should talk."_

_Tali regarded her for a moment. "Alright. In private, I assume?"_

_Traynor's eyes slid to the other Admirals. "Yes, that would be best, I think."_

_Tali nodded, indicating that Traynor should follow her. They tucked themselves into the conference room, Tali hoisting herself up on the table. "What did you need, Specialist?"_

" _Please, call me Samantha. And I thought we should speak. I… spoke with Shepard a little while ago, and she told me…"_

" _That we used to be involved?" Samantha nodded. "She hadn't told you before?"_

" _Um… no, she hadn't."_

_Tali cocked her head to the side. "Did she say why?"_

" _I…" Samantha's eyes unfocused. "She said it was because I make her happy, and thinking about you – the way things ended with you – made her sad."_

_Tali felt a pang of guilt at those words. She knew she had hurt the woman by refusing to go back to her. But she clung to the good news in those words, too. "I'm glad you make her happy, Samantha. She was… very dear to me. She still is. I would hate to see her hurt."_ _Any worse than I hurt her_ _._

" _I'm… glad I make her happy, too." The woman pushed her hair behind her ear. "Why… why didn't you go back to her?"_

_It was a personal question, but Tali couldn't really blame her. How would she herself feel, in the woman's place, if her new lover's previous lover came to stay on their exceedingly crowded ship? "I'm done mourning, Samantha. I mourned her death for two years. She was my first love. I… can't have it back. It wouldn't be the same, and I think she knows that, too."_

After that they had reached a place of friendliness. The human seemed appeased, and began asking her less invasive questions, joking around a little before they needed to split up and go back to their tasks. And while it hurt to see Shepard with someone else, even though she really wanted Shepard to be with  _someone_ , she was happy to see that they both clearly cared deeply for each other. When Samantha flew into Shepard's arms after they all almost died on the dreadnought, Tali smiled, watching with interest, a little jealous that their faces were so easy to read. The women loved each other. And it warmed Tali's heart. She no longer needed to feel guilty for breaking the Commander's heart.

Many good things were happening. They had Rannoch back,  _and_  peace with the geth! She was reunited with her friends, Liara, Garrus, Ashley, and Shepard. But having the entire crew know about their previous relationship was… unsettling. And she couldn't figure out  _how_  they knew, but they clearly did. She could feel them staring when she wasn't facing them, when she walked through the CIC or went to eat something with Garrus. She began spending all her time in Engineering, where she knew everyone already, and talking with Garrus or Liara over the comms. She spent her nights asleep on the cot Jack used to frequent, or wandering the too-quiet ship in insomnia.

One night, shortly after retaking Rannoch, she couldn't sleep. She wandered up to Engineering, thinking that she might look into a power-draw issue that had been presented to her by Ken earlier that day. When the door opened, Tali found a woman sitting next to her workstation, a stringed instrument abandoned on the counter next to her, Liara standing between her legs. They were kissing slowly, sensually, the human's hands cupping Liara's face, Liara's hands resting gently on the woman's hips. Tali just stood there, kind of dumbly, not really knowing what to do. They seemed to be humming in content.

The woman noticed Tali after a moment, sat all the way up, and indicated her presence to Liara with a nod of her head and a gentle cough. "Tali!" Liara had turned around, practically jumping, looking a bit like a kid with her hand caught in the cookie jar. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," said Tali, recovering and jutting out a hip. The human woman just looked from Liara to Tali, confusion evident on her face.

"I… couldn't sleep," Liara answered evasively. She hadn't told Tali about her relationship with the Engineer – the hadn't had a lot of time to catch up without anyone else around. Tali wasn't surprised, though, as she knew Liara tended toward guarding her privacy fiercely, even around her friends.

"Uh," said Denna, picking up her guitar and sliding off the counter. "I'm sorry, did I miss something?"

"You're sitting on my workstation," said Tali, unsure of why she was feeling so petty.

"Oh! You must be Tali'Zorah! We share a workstation. We haven't met yet. I'm Denna Halanz – I work the night shift." She held out her hand, and Tali took it, hesitantly. "You've increased our efficiency so much that I've barely had any work to do over the last couple of nights. Hence the, uh, music break." She said the last with a slight blush.  _Well, at least she has the decency to be embarrassed_.

"I see," she said. She cocked her head at Liara.

"Tali, Denna and I are…" Liara trailed off, clearly unsure how to finish what she was saying.

"Together." The human seemed utterly confused. "I'm sorry, is there a problem? I've been hoping to meet you, Tali. I had a question about something you did earlier to the drive core. Are you up for showing me?" Tali nodded, and Denna led the way. Liara grabbed her things and made a hasty exit, letting her and the quarian become acquainted.

"Adams told me some about you," Tali said after a few minutes, getting over her initial shock at finding her old friend and this strange woman making out at her workstation. "He said you're his 'master-welder'?"

"Oh, yes." She chuckled. "I like to work with my hands." Denna hoisted herself up over the railing, lowering herself to the floor of the drive core chamber. "Speaking of which, I noticed while I was down here yesterday. Did you do this wiring job?" She indicated a spot at her feet. "It doesn't look like Adams' work, and Ken and Gabby don't really  _do_  this kind of thing." Tali nodded, staying up behind the railing. "It's really amazing work, Tali. How did you do it? I'm good, but I couldn't do a soldering job  _that_  delicate, not with the tools I have here." They spent the next several hours talking about their work, showing each other their techniques, comparing notes on hacking. Tali was beginning to like this engineer, despite how uncomfortable their initial meeting had made her.

Adams walked in several hours later to relieve Denna. He was impressed with the work they'd been able to do, completely ignoring the fact that she had her guitar with her. She grabbed it, said her good-byes to Adams, and made her way out, Tali following her. "Where are you off to," she asked her, strumming out a few chords while the elevator took them to Deck Three.

"I don't know. I couldn't sleep, and I'm not exactly tired now…"

"I think I'm gonna go see Liara. We have some… unfinished business"

Tali became flustered. "I- I'll never understand your ability to treat intimacy so… nonchalantly…"

Denna stared at her for a moment, the elevator door opening. "I'm sorry, Tali. I didn't realize that's what made you so uncomfortable earlier. I just like to joke around – I've been hanging out with James a lot. Plus I'm rather shameless myself."

"It's alright. I'm just used to having to guard everything, as an admiral for a very nosy people. And the daughter of an admiral, as well. I've had a lot of practice keeping people out of my business. I'm used to people keeping me out of theirs."

Denna stepped off the elevator. "Well, I can understand that. Hey, listen, I don't know if you want to or not, but Traynor, Gabby, and I are getting together later in the lounge, if you'd like to join us. But we can get kinda nosy, so fair warning. Just let me know." And she turned and practically ran off in the direction of Liara's office, leaving Tali by the elevator.

She sighed, not really knowing what to do with herself, when she saw Garrus exiting the main battery. She smiled, though no one could see it, and set off to have breakfast with the handsome turian.

* * *

"I have work to do, Denna. I've been wasting too much time with you." Liara was sitting at a terminal in her office, her VI drone circling her.

"Ouch," said Denna, ignoring that she'd been asked to leave and taking a seat on one of the couches after hanging her guitar up on the wall, where Liara had installed a hook for her. "Call it what you want, but I didn't  _ask_  you to come waste time with me in Engineering last night. You came all on your own and distracted me from the work I didn't have to do. What's this really about?"

Liara sighed and turned to her. "You're right. I'm sorry. I get sharp when I'm flustered. I was embarrassed to be caught by Tali, and I do actually have a lot of work that I was ignoring to spend time with you. You just make me not care as much about the work – the amount is ceaseless, no matter how much I do. I'd much rather be in your arms… or in your mind…"

Denna shuddered. She absolutely loved the bonding process, though sometimes she had more animal desires. Balancing the two was something they were working on. "Well, I was going to sleep some, then spend some time with Samantha and Gabby when their shifts are over. How about I actually go sleep in my own bed, and you can get some work done?"

She shook her head. "Sleep here," she said, before she could really think about it too much. Not having her here would certainly remove a distraction, but whenever Denna was not in her room, she tended to go looking for her – that's what had happened last night, anyway. She got up and pulled Denna to the bed, removing her clothing slowly but deliberately, pressing kisses to her lips and neck, pressing her hands to her body, working her up slowly, yet also, somehow, quickly. When she pressed inside of her, Denna gasped, almost sighed in relief, and came within a couple of minutes, a gentle peak, a swell, her wave cresting and then subsiding. As it subsided, Liara initiated the bond, and had her own crest, pulling Denna along for the ride. As they came down from their climax together, Denna settled in for sleep, Liara pressed to her back, skin-to-skin. Once she was truly slumbering, Liara got up, covered Denna, dressed, and returned to work, glancing every once in a while to her bed and smiling.

* * *

"Oh, good, you're here." Denna walked into the room and sat on one of the couches. She was offered a beer, but she declined for the moment – she'd just woken up, hadn't even eaten yet. It might be Happy Hour for these two, but for her it was breakfast time. Traynor commented on her rumpled hair and satisfied smile. Denna remarked that she'd noticed Traynor hadn't slept in her own bunk in weeks.

Traynor tipped her beer toward the engineer. "Touché."

"So, what did I miss?"

"Our first drinks," said Gabby, toasting her and draining the last of her beer before starting in on the one she'd just offered to Denna.

"How's working with only Ken, Gabby?"

"Oh, you know. We get a lot of work done…"

"Oh, Gabby, I know you two are sleeping together," said Denna, laughing.

"But! How?"

"EDI has a big fucking mouth, that's how," she said, causing Traynor to join her laughter. Gabby glared up at the ceiling.

"So, you two are an item, then," said Traynor, getting a mischievous gleam in her eye. Denna threw out a mock groan. "Got anything juicy to share?"

"Um… I don't… Like what?"

"Oh, you know – details! We want the juicy details!"

"But… neither of you like boys. What do you wanna know about him?"

"Well," said Denna. "Have you actually slept together yet?" Gabby nodded. "Where?" Traynor giggled. Gabby blushed.

"Um… In here, actually…" The two other women howled with laughter as the door opened, admitting Tali.

"Is my appearance in this suit really that funny," she asked, a note to her voice making it obvious that she was making light of her own timing.

"Tali! Come on in! We were just ferreting out details from Gabby – I  _told_  you we'd probably get nosy," said Denna, perching on the edge of the couch. "Gabby was just telling us where her and Ken have sex." Gabby blushed more deeply, but laughed along with Traynor.

"So you two  _are_  together, then" said Tali, trying her best to take these humans' simultaneous nosiness and openness in stride.

"Oh, shut up. If Denna knew,  _you_  knew. What about you, Denna? What juicy details are you holding back?"

Now it was her turn to blush. "Oh, I don't know…"

"Bullshit," said Samantha, punching her arm. "I bet you two have all kinds of weird, kinky sex. Give us  _something_!"

"No, I doubt Tali wants to hear anything about her friend." The two women glared at her, but Tali was thankful – Denna was right, she _didn't_  want to hear any details about Liara. "But a peace offering – a detail about my life none of you know about. After I was informed that Sheila had filed for divorce, I had James get me drunk, and we slept together. I feel no qualms giving you juicy details about  _him_." Samantha's jaw sat agape for a minute. Gabby giggled. Tali cocked her head to the side. Denna furrowed her brows at all of them. "What?"

"But, he's so…  _unappealing_ ," said Traynor, scrunching up her nose. Denna burst out laughing, followed shortly by Gabby.

"Most of the time, I'd agree with you. He's a big, sweaty boy who flirts and drinks too much. But he's a really good friend, and I seriously needed someone who didn't want anything from me but to have a good time and still be my friend afterward. But there was this one thing he did that I'll never forget, and I wonder if he does it with other people." She paused for effect.

"Well?" Traynor and Gabby leaned forward as they spoke in unison.

"So you know how he's always weaving Spanish in when he talks?" They both nodded.

"Spanish?" Tali cocked her head again.

"One of Earth's many languages. I bet you don't ever hear it with the translator. He speaks mostly English, with a little Spanish thrown in." Tali nodded – that made sense that it was something they heard and she didn't. "Well, when he's… at it, it's all Spanish. The man screws in Spanish. It was funny as Hell. Picture it – big motherfucker on top of you, all sweaty and hot and bothered, pumping away, and all that's coming out of his mouth is Spanish curse words. I could barely keep my shit together." Traynor was aghast at the details – Tali, too – but Gabby laughed her head off. She knew how ridiculous men looked when they were huffing away on top of you.

Samantha shook her head. "Wow, you slept with James. I just can't – why?"

"I don't know. I was feeling like shit, and he felt good. He certainly knows what he's doing," said Denna, sitting back in her seat and looking out to the stars. "I needed the comfort, the contact. I needed to be with someone, and I needed someone who would take care of me, just accept me how I was, who wouldn't want more than I could give. I wasn't planning on sleeping with a man, but if I ever was going to, it was important that it be someone who wouldn't be all macho about 'turning' me or whatever. It can be really hard to find all of that in someone you don't know." She was quiet for a moment. "We just… had fun together, no strings attached, and went back to being good friends the next morning. I do get one constant reminder of it, though."

"Oh?" Gabby uncrossed her legs, putting them straight out in front of her on the floor and leaning back on her hands.

"He calls me Kat because he told me that I reminded him of one as we fell asleep – the way I move, my body. But that's okay, I don't mind the nickname. Besides," she said, grinning, "I gave him one from that night, too."

"What," asked Traynor, getting over her hang-ups.

"Well, I call him Diego – Spanish for James. You know, all the yelling in Spanish and such."

"You know, I'd been wondering about that," Tali chimed in. "I don't know what Spanish sounds like compared to what you normally speak, but if it's anything like that nickname, then I'm sure it's beautiful."

"It's a lovely language," said Traynor, her giggles subsiding from learning where the nickname had come from. "My parents taught me, wanted me to know some things if I ever went to Earth for University – which I did."

"I learned because there was a whole community on my colony of people who left Earth to keep things like that alive. Things like local, regional traditions, languages, culture, customs." Denna crossed her legs, arms resting across her chest.

Gabby cocked her head this time. "Is that why you swing dance and play old music?"

Denna smiled. "Yeah, actually. My parents started a ranch, and I spent most of my childhood on a horse. I play the guitar and mandolin because it's country people music. I got into swing dancing in high school. People on my colony wanted to keep the old traditions alive. We still had a huge mix of them – Spanish people did not create country music or swing dance – but it certainly taught me a lot of our history, in a way the textbooks just don't do."

"Our people will be learning those kinds of things, now that we have a home world again," said Tali. "We've spent so long floating aimlessly through space. We have a whole new culture that is adapted to life on a ship – I wonder how that will be incorporated into life on a planet." She wrung her hands somewhat.

"So, Tali. It's your turn," said Samantha, retrieving another drink for herself. "Any juiciness you can share with us about our fearless leader from the old days?" Her eyes danced.

"I- I- what?! But  _you're_  with her now!"

"Yes!" Denna almost clapped in delight. "Tell us something! Both of you!"

"I don't know… It's so private…"

"It doesn't need to be anything awful," said Samantha. "Tell us something about the cross-species thing – that's something I wouldn't know anything about. You, too, Denna. How's it different?"

"Oh, I can share that kind of thing," said Tali, nodding. "If Shepard's behavior was any kind of clue, then humans react differently from how I expected." Raised eyebrows all around prompted her to continue. "Well, quite simply – how is this suit erotic in  _any_  way? It only seemed to get her more excited once she'd had it off of me."

"Oooooh, like how a dress that covers you from head to toe, but hugs at all the right places, can be so much more erotic than a naked woman standing in front of you," said Samantha, nodding her understanding.

"Right," Denna chimed in, "and if you  _know_  what's underneath, and you like it, then it just makes your heart beat harder in anticipation!"

"All right, Tali. You've given us your requisite juice," said Samantha, nodding. "But Denna has yet to. Spill."

"Neither have you, milady," Denna said, eyebrow raised. "Methinks you're  _avoiding_."

Samantha was undaunted. "You first. Mine's about our CO – best for last."

Denna rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright. Let's see… Oh, okay, so I've been meaning to share this when James wasn't around, anyway. Liara's obsessed with my hair." Traynor's face showed only confusion. "Well, asari don't have it. Like, any, anywhere. Liara's constantly playing with  _all_  of my hair," she said, emphasizing the last few words to get her meaning across. "I've had to explain more than once that my head hair and my… other… hair is not the same, and all of that."

"Huh," said Gabby. "Who knew? And here I thought for some reason they would have hair on their bodies, just not their heads…"

"It makes sense, though," said Samantha. "I mean, they evolved out of the water. Thessia is covered in water, very humid. They didn't need to evolve from a hairy monkey-creature the way humans did." Tali laughed. Samantha raised her eyebrows in question.

"Sorry. 'Hairy monkey-creature.'" Samantha laughed – it  _did_  sound odd. "Is that really how humans evolved?"

"As far as anyone can tell, yes, it is. Our ancestors lived in a cold place, and had not yet developed a way to wear the skins of the animals they killed. As our brains got bigger, and we developed tools and such, we also lost body hair. Now what you see on a human is what's left us. We do have hair all over our skin, though not anything that's meant to keep us warm." She lifted her arm for Tali to observe the small, vestigial hairs.

Just then, the door opened, and both Liara and Shepard were there. Denna's face paled – had her Shadow Broker girlfriend heard?

"I guess we weren't the only ones who wanted to catch up," said Shepard. Her eyes moved from Tali to Denna to Samantha. "I know what you've all been doing in here," she said, narrowing her eyes. "You're sharing  _secrets_." They all sat with their heads cast down. "Riiiight. Well, I'm going back to my cabin. Liara, you should, too. I imagine we'll both have visitors very soon." She didn't seem too happy, but Denna caught a hint of a smirk before she was no longer facing them. Liara was only confused, but also left.

"Shit. Sam, we're both totally fucked," said Denna, getting up. "She knows exactly what we were doing. Wait a minute… EDI!"

"Yes, Engineer Halanz?"

"You have a big fucking mouth, EDI."

"I simply told them that someone was talking about them in the lounge-"

"Well, you've now been disinvited from any party I ever throw, ever. And if I'm in the doghouse after this, I'm personally fucking with your personality subroutines until you bark like a dog instead of talking, and then weld the controls shut. C'mon, Sam," she said, offering a hand to help the woman to her feet. "That wasn't a request from Shepard. She's expecting you." They walked out together, leaving Tali and Gabby to finish their drinks and laugh.

* * *

"So you were sharing secrets?" Liara sat on the edge of her bed. Denna stood in the middle of her office, the VI drone circling her.

"Just girl-talk, completely harmless," said Denna. Though perhaps Liara didn't want it known that she liked to play with Denna's pubic hair…

"I see. What did you say about me?"

"Um… that you really like my hair, because asari don't have any."

"Oh. That's it?" Denna nodded. Liara reached out her hands to beckon her lover to her. "That doesn't bother me. That's something that most asari love about being intimate with humans. That's something they could have learned from the extranet, had any of them ever bothered to look it up." She pulled her to be sitting on her lap. "Thank you for not sharing anything more personal. You know how private I am. I'd hate to be a spectacle for a couple of humans…"

"I mean, they asked," said Denna, sure now that she would not have to turn EDI into a barking dog. "It's what we do – we want juicy details from each other. Tali was also a good girl, as was Sam – didn't share anything about our CO. I  _did_  share something about James, though."

Liara had concern in her eyes. "Wouldn't he mind that you share these things without his knowledge?"

"Well, yes, he would, maybe. But given how free he's been in the past with the information he knows about  _me_ , I figure I'm just getting back at him for telling Adams so much about my divorce while it was happening." She switched herself to be straddling Liara's lap. "Besides, he's always calling me Kat, which is a constant tease and reminder of the time we were… intimate. So he can suck it up."

Liara didn't understand her relationship with James. But she could appreciate that they were close friends, and they had their own way of interacting. These humans were so strange to her sometimes, even after having seen into Denna's mind. She was missing crucial context, crucial culture – she was missing having grown up human, with human history, and human context. She was briefly amused by the thought that she needed a human Cipher to understand them sometimes.

"I have to shower and get ready for my shift. Have you showered yet?" Liara shook her head. "Good. Want to join me in your shower?" Liara grinned and began to strip the woman. She understood  _this_. She understood wanting to tear the woman's clothes off and be as close to her as possible.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Okay, so. You're meeting her at Pietro's on the Presidium in twenty minutes. Any questions?"

James pulled at his tie. "Yeah. Why are you doing this?"

They were on the Citadel again. Liara and Shepard were in some meeting at the embassies Liara had to be super-secretive about. Denna hadn't forgotten about setting James up with a friend on the Citadel, one who she knew happened to like big men just like him.

Denna reached up and slapped his hands away, straightening the tie before loosening it just enough to stop chafing. "Because you deserve to have a nice time with a woman who might actually be interested in you, instead of me, Samantha, and Steve."

"But I  _like_  you, Samantha, and Steve. And Shepard and Ash, and Blue and Scars and Sparks. You guys are fun."

She rolled her eyes. "Not the kind of fun I'm shootin' for, there, Diego." She took a step back, looked him up and down, and smiled. "There you go. Perfectly dapper."

He smiled down at her. "I guess I could use an outing that doesn't involve any part of my uniform."

She smirked. "Or Batarian refugees playing poker." She patted his arm. "You go ahead, big guy. I've got my own date at Hammers with Steve and Samantha. Send me a message to let me know how it went, yeah?"

He mock-saluted, a big grin on his face. "Sure thing, Kat."

An hour later, Denna sat at a table at the bar with Samantha and Steve. Steve was filling them in on a surprise encounter he'd had with another member of the crew.

Denna put down her beer. "So, wait… where did y'all do it?"

"The shuttle," Steve answered completely unabashedly before draining his own glass.

"The… shuttle?" Samantha looked like she wasn't sure if she should be shocked or amused. Denna just cackled, downing the rest of her beer.

"Yes, indeed. The shuttle." He winked. "Don't tell James."

"Don't tell me what?"

Denna whirled around, seeing James approaching them from the front door. "Diego?! The fuck are you doing here?" He had his tie loose, the top two buttons of his shirt undone, and his hands in his pockets.

"Oh, you know… It just… didn't work out." He came and sat down next to her.

She just stared at him.

"How the fuck did it not work out?" She scowled. "You're exactly her type!"

He frowned. "Did you ever think that maybe she's not  _my_  type, Kat?"

"I… Shit." She completely deflated, her righteous anger fleeing before his slightly indignant gaze. "I thought you liked… you know. Girly girls?"

He snorted, signaling the bartender and indicating refills plus one for himself. "And what gave you that idea, Kat?"

"I don't know… when we talk about women together…" She scratched her head. "Damn. I guess we actually don't do that much, do we?"

Sam spoke up. "I'm sorry the date didn't go well, James. Did something awful happen?"

James shrugged. "Not really. We just didn't have anything to talk about. She was pretty, just… not really my type."

Steve smirked. "Well, what's your type, Jarhead-boy?"

James' eyes flashed to Denna, making eye contact briefly with her before his eyes slid to the drinks making their way to the table. Denna's stomach clenched. Was he in love with her? Is that why he was slightly upset when she made it clear she was with Liara? Why he went to dance lessons with her? Why he was generally just so good to her?

When the bartender left, he took a big drink, sighing as he put his glass on the table. "Women who don't tend to like me back, unfortunately." Her stomach clenched tighter.

Samantha and Steve exchanged glances. "Um… mind narrowing that one down a bit?" Samantha took another drink of her beer, finishing it.

He sighed, took another drink, and looked straight at Denna. "I know you all know about… the two of us. I like… girls like you, Denna. And usually girls like you don't like boys." He looked down into his drink. "Girls like Shepard. And Ash…"

Denna narrowed her eyes, the corner of her mouth lifting in a smile. "Asshole."

He looked up, alarmed. "What?"

She smirked. "You're sittin' here, trying make me think you're in love with me, just so you can hide who you really have a crush on." She sat back, triumphantly crossing her arms over her chest. "Asshole."

Samantha furrowed her brows. "What on Earth do you mean, Denna?"

By now, Steve was smiling, too. "I know what she means. And I agree." He took a drink, winked at James. "You're an asshole. You had _all_  of us going. You  _still_  have Sam going."

James smirked. "You got me. I just wanted to make you realize, Kat."

She nodded. "No problem. I suppose I deserved it."

Samantha pounded the table. "Will you please tell me what the Hell just happened?!"

Denna snorted. "Diego here has a  _thing_  for Lieutenant-Commander Williams."

Her question was clearly not answered. "What?"

"Yeah," said Steve, gesturing toward the big marine. "He has a thing for girls like her. He started with Denna because he wanted to mess with her. He ended with Williams, and hesitated at the end and all that. He has a crush on the LC."

James grinned and nodded. "Yep. She's hot. And she's a really great girl."

"I'd hardly describe her as a  _girl_ ," Sam countered, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "But I agree. She's very attractive. And as straight as they come. Which is good news for you, James."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "You're fucking with me."

Steve shook his head. "No, no she's really not. You've just been around us too long, Vega. Ashley is  _definitely_  not part of the family."

"The… family?"

Denna nodded. "Yeah. You know. Us. Queer." She winked at him. "She likes boys, and doesn't like girls."

He looked utterly dumbfounded. "Oh."

Denna snorted. "Cheer up, buddy. This is a  _good_  thing!"

Samantha clapped. "Ooooh, do you think she likes him, too?"

Steve winked. "I know a good way to find out."

"No," James interjected, pointing a finger at Steve. "You're gonna ask her what she's into, or come onto her, or something." He looked at all three of them. "I'll take care of it."

Denna grinned. "C'mon, Diego! We just wanna be your super-duper queer wing-man-group!"

"No." He glared, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "I'll take care of it. I promise."

Steve smiled, Denna chuckled, and Samantha let out a disappointed sigh. James took the last drink of his beer. "Bunch of nosy-"

Simultaneously, all of their omnitools beeped. Reading hers first, Denna sighed. "Dammit. We just got here, too."

"What?" Samantha scanned her own. "Emergency recall? But… we just got here…"

"Come on, ladies," Steve said, slamming back the rest of his beer. "Duty calls."

They returned to the ship amidst much grumbling.

* * *

"You'd never abandon them, Liara-"

"I told those people on Thessia we'd save them! How many asari died because I demanded their help?!"

Shepard slammed her hands onto the bed for emphasis. "None."

"Shepard, that isn't true…"

"You've been warning your people for  _four years_ , Liara." Shepard leapt up and started fiddling with Liara's secure terminal. "There's not a damn thing you should feel guilty about. If we move fast enough, there's a chance they'll survive this, to start again. We lost Thessia, but we haven't lost the asari yet."

Liara considered this for a moment. Finally, she dragged herself from her bed, picking up speed as she began walking. She moved Shepard gently from her computer. "Helping the refugees," she said, opening up several windows, "that's something I can do. It's something I  _owe_  them."

Shepard stood behind her, a proud smile on her face. "I knew you'd think of something."

Liara looked at her. "I still need some time, Shepard, but – thank you."

Shepard took her cue and departed the office. She stopped in the mess hall, images of the fight she'd stopped between Liara and Javik flitting through her head. Maybe she should relieve Engineer Halanz from duty and send her to comfort Liara? She didn't know, but she went down to Engineering anyway – she should at least  _tell_  the woman how upset Liara was, as she likely didn't even know the details of what had happened down there. When she walked in, she could hear the engineer, but couldn't see her.

"I'm going to kill that motherfucker, Adams. This is a goddamn mess. I'm gonna shove this soldering iron right up his ass, flip the switch, and not feel sorry for him!"

"I'll help you," said Shepard, almost laughing out loud with Adams at what the engineer was saying. "But where  _are_  you?" She saw the engineer's head poke down, upside-down, from the drive core chamber.

"Commander? Did you need something?"

"What happened down here?"

"Kai Leng introduced a virus," said Adams. Denna removed her head, going back to work. "EDI contained and destroyed it, but the effort caused some hardware to blow out, in some hard-to-reach places. Halanz is climbing over the wall with a sling, repairing the damage. Ken is crawling through the ducts doing the same thing, and Tali went to go fix something on the shuttle. Can I do something for you, Commander?"

"I actually needed to speak with Halanz." She paused, considering Adams, who had nodded and turned back around to get to work. "Right. I'll just go speak with her in there," she said, and walked the ten or so steps, stopping practically right under the engineer. "So James calls you Kat because you can climb walls and shit?"

A pause. "Yeah, something like that." She looked down at her CO. "What happened down there, Commander? Is Liara okay?"

"We… Kai Leng succeeded. Thessia has fallen." Denna's face fell. "Liara is doing better, but… well, I don't know if you should go to her or leave her alone, but I thought you should know. She's not hopeless anymore, but she's not happy and chipper, either."

"Well, no, she wouldn't be. How pissed were all of us when we had to leave Earth? I'll go to her as soon as I can." She hung from the wall, not holding on to anything, and began fiddling with her omnitool. "I'll just send her a quick message. Thanks, Commander. I appreciate you thinking of me. She can hold back sometimes – if you hadn't come down here, I may not have learned the fate of Thessia until some member of the crew told me. We don't get information like that in here. No one ever thinks to contact us unless they need something from the drive core, or if they need something fixed."

She went right back to work. Shepard had to hand it to her – she was good, and professional when it came to her work. And she clearly knew the woman she'd become involved with very well.

* * *

Liara sighed, tears still stinging her eyes, and opened the prompt on her omnitool. Denna's voice came to her. "Hey." Her tone was very gentle.

"Hey," she replied.

"I know you need some time to… sort yourself out. And we all have work that needs immediate attention. But Shepard just told me what happened down there, and I wanted you to know that you're on my mind. If you'd rather be alone, I totally understand, but I was thinking I'll come by in an hour, after I'm done making sure we don't fall out of the sky the next time we go to FTL. Just let me know before then if you need some space, okay?" Liara's heart soared momentarily – how did she pick someone, a young human, no less, who was so sensitive to what she needed? Even when she herself didn't know what that was?

"I will. Denna – thank you."

"No problem, toots." Liara chuckled, and they said their goodbyes.

* * *

Something changed. What was it? Her awareness expanded, into her limbs, her fingers, her toes, down through her stomach, until finally she was aware of the change in her surroundings. She had become so caught up in the information on the screen in front of her that she hadn't noticed Denna come into the room. She now stood with her arms wrapped around Liara's waist, her cheek resting between her shoulder blades, pressing her whole body gently into the asari's. Liara took a deep breath, settling into her body again, relishing the comfort of having Denna pressed into her.

Her head was being turned now, warm and calloused fingers pressing softly into her cheek. She was enveloped, literally swept off her feet and carried to the bed. The engineer really was all deceptively small, but very, very strong. She found herself curled in the bed, her boots, jacket, and gloves no longer on her body, her face resting in Denna's lap. She was surprised to find wetness on her face. It was like her awareness was happening in flashes – a glimpse every few seconds. Now Denna murmuring comforting words, now Liara crying, now Denna's hands rubbing her back, now quiet, and dry cheeks, and warmth. As she rested, her awareness came fully back to her.

"Denna," she breathed, looking up into her lover's face.

Denna smiled down at her. "You were kinda out of it there for a while." She ran her hand over her scalp-ridges, almost petting her. "I- I don't really know what to say. I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner."

"You don't need to say anything. I understand, Denna. And I'm glad you're here now." She pulled herself up a little, leaning Denna against the wall and resting her head on her shoulder.

"Liara, I… I love you." Liara blinked once, twice, not knowing what to say. "You don't have to say anything, and it's not supposed to change how you're feeling after… everything. I just thought you should know. I'm not looking for promises. I just…" She sighed. "It's scary, having you out there, feeling like I could lose you every single time. So I just want you to know how I feel, and that I'm here for you, for whatever you need."

Liara blinked. She felt... angry. And afraid. And like the world was ending and she was completely powerless to stop it. But the anger and the fear were better than how she'd felt on the shuttle, which was completely hopeless. Then she'd felt tremendous guilt, which Shepard had assuaged. And in its place she had grown... completely numb, just doing the mechanical movements required to evacuate the refugees, moving smoothly into monitoring her network. When Denna had come in, she had brought with her warm feelings. Hope returned, even as the fear and the anger had returned. And now? Now love flared brightly within her, stoking the coals of hope into a tidy little flame. She loved this human, so much. She was a bright, warm spot in an ocean of terror. Denna was a rock, a safe harbor in the torrent of chaos that had erupted in the asari's life.

Liara found her hand, interlaced their fingers, nuzzled into her neck. "I know." She spoke into Denna's chest. "I've known for a long time now. I've seen your mind, Denna. It's not like telepathy, but I can sense how you feel. I just never thought you'd say it out loud, not with everything else that's happened to you in the recent past." The pain was dulled now. She'd done what she could, and Shepard's words had indeed calmed her down. Having Denna here was doing the rest. "I… I feel the same way. I've been careful to keep it from you, not put pressure on you. Goddess knows you've had enough of that. I just thought we could comfort each other, provide fun, a distraction, with no pressure for more commitment or deeper emotions. I only wanted us to be a positive influence on the other. I never expected to fall completely in love with you. But right now…" She looked up at the last, into Denna's eyes.

Denna seemed to know what her eyes pleaded for, and kissed her like she'd never kissed her before. Her clothes came off, a relief, as they were still filthy from the battle on Thessia. When Denna's skin pressed to hers she sighed in relief. She initiated the bond as Denna pressed inside of her, maintaining it throughout their coupling, letting Denna's love, affection, and concern all wash over her as they touched, kissed, and held each other. Denna seemed to mentally cradle her, finding and soothing all her hurts. She could still feel her presence inside of her mind as they fell asleep, limbs entwined, heartbeat and breathing synced.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Have you talked about the future?" They were on their way to Horizon to find answers, but the trip would take more than twenty-four hours. Shepard had invited Liara up to her cabin, to share a glass of wine and talk. Neither of them could sleep. Samantha had traded a shift with someone else and would be getting off soon, so for now, they spent time as friends, talking.

"We… we love each other." Liara flushed a little. She was not used to having these feelings, and even less used to talking about them with someone other than Denna. But Shepard was her closest friend, and having someone other than Denna to speak with about these things had been helpful to her thus far. "But, is it really fair or responsible to talk about the future before this conflict is decided?"

"I guess you have a point." Shepard took a sip of wine. "But is it fair  _not_  to? I mean, if you love each other, that kind of implies that you'd like to keep things up in the future. Doesn't it?"

"I suppose it does…"

"Well, what do you want? If we could be done tomorrow, and could start rebuilding, what do you want it to look like? Marriage? Babies?"

"I… I want to help rebuild Thessia. It's my home, even if I haven't lived there in many years."

"Understandable. Do you want Halanz to help you? What if she wants to help rebuild Earth?" Liara thought about it for a minute. She pictured running her network on the planet, aiding with the rehoming of refugees, coming home at night - with Denna, and then without her. Yes, she wanted her there. She didn't want to come home to no one, and she loved Denna dearly. What did that mean for them?

"I think I would like her to be there with me," said Liara, finally. "Maybe you're right. Maybe we should stop avoiding the future. But…"

"What?"

"Well, she's had one marriage dissolve during this conflict; because of it, in some ways. I know she loves me, but I don't know how settled she hopes to be. Marriage or children… I do not know."

"Well, that's what talking is for, Liara. You can tell her that you want a future together without demanding she marry you on the spot. You don't have to bear her children. Besides, you're going to have to navigate your different cultural traditions, anyway. You call it bondmate and have no ceremony, right?" Liara nodded. "All cultures of humans have some sort of marriage ceremony. But given her past experience with that, she may not want it. So you have a lot of talking to do."

Liara's eyes widened as she realized just how much they'd have to navigate. Would Denna want to remarry? Would she want children? Where would they live? What if they couldn't agree on what to do after the war? What if one of them perished before this conflict was over, making the answers to these questions a moot point?

"Hey, it's okay, you don't have to figure it all out right now, Liara." She held up her hands as if to stop something coming at her in a rush. "Just, you know… talking about the future just once doesn't work, but no decisions have to be made right away, either." Liara nodded, considering Shepard's words.

"What about you and Samantha? You said you love her – does she know this?"

Shepard smiled. "Yes, she does. And the feeling's mutual."

"What do you see in your future?"

Shepard's eyes got far away. "You know: marriage, children, a house with a picket fence. Samantha likes dogs, so probably a few of those. I'm fuzzy on the details, but it's a dream that keeps me going."

Liara smiled. "Denna likes dogs, as well."

"Well, maybe we'll need to live near each other, let our dogs play. And our kids?"

Liara nodded. "Yes. Yes, perhaps I do want that…"

Their conversation moved to other things, but Liara continued thinking on what Shepard had advised. After an hour or so she excused herself, going down to Engineering. They were on their way to Horizon, and now that she'd resolved to talk about it, she didn't wish to wait any longer. Denna's laughter floated to her through the closed door, coming crystal-clear once it opened for her. They were telling jokes? She couldn't see them at first, was surprised to hear Traynor's voice in addition to Denna's and Tali's.

"Denna," she called, and was rewarded with a reply from below her.  _Where is she?_  "Denna? Why are you down there?"

"I'm just checking the hard-to-reach places before we arrive," she said, climbing out from under the walkway by pushing up on the next section of grating in front of Liara. "Tali's checking the drive core chamber, and since  _you_  were in Shepard's cabin, Samantha's entertaining us while she waits. What's up?" Liara never would understand that phrase.

"I see… I, um- I was hoping we could speak…?" She glanced up at Traynor, who had chosen that moment to duck into the drive core chamber and speak with Tali softly. A moment later she said her goodbyes and hurried out, Tali in hot pursuit. "She amazes me. She's good at more than just technical communication."

"I agree. Now, what can I do for you, dear?" She said it teasingly, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze, but Liara could see the concern in her eyes nonetheless.

"I… We've been avoiding speaking about the future, and…" She couldn't finish.

"Mmhmm. Well, that's true: we have been playing chicken with that particular subject. Just like we'd been avoiding talking about our feelings." She smiled, cupped Liara's cheek. Liara leaned into the touch, wrapping her arms around the shorter woman's waist. "It's a large topic. Anything specific you're thinking about?"

"I… Well, what do you want from this? Should we survive the coming conflict, and the Reapers are defeated: what's next? For us, I mean?" She looked down at the woman in her arms. "What do you see?"

"I haven't thought about it too much. It seemed too much like jinxing it." Liara was confused by the term but allowed her to keep talking. "But I was hoping that you would be around. You?"

"I… I, too, wish that you will be involved," she started, finding her words with difficulty. "I don't know what I want to do in the long run, but I know I want to aid in the rebuilding of Thessia. But it occurs to me that I can do that from anywhere if my network is intact." She stroked the young woman's cheek. "Are you really so comfortable with commitment after the dissolution of your marriage?"

"I…" Denna pulled away gently, wandering over to her workstation, hoisting herself up to sit next to it. "I just need to be careful, I think." She held her arms out, beckoning to Liara, who came to stand between her legs, hugging her with her head resting on the woman's chest. "I gave up a lot for that marriage. We weren't right for each other, I think. I did a lot I didn't necessarily want to do so that she wouldn't be mad, like living on the Citadel, and getting a purebred dog, and never playing my mandolin in the apartment."

Liara had seen these things, of course – Denna could not keep her memories from surfacing while they were together. She let her continue, trying hard to calm her rapidly beating heart. "I've been thinking a lot about my parents, the place where I grew up. I think I want to go back, rebuild there. The land belongs to me now that they're no longer around. I want to renovate the house, start a garden, maybe see how well the horses have fared on their own – I'm sure they've gone feral at this point and would need breaking. Again…" Liara was more confused than ever. "Sorry. My point is: I think I want to go home. And I don't want to do to you what she did to me. I would love if you came with me, but I understand if you can't."

Liara was quiet for a moment. "I can't make any promises, with what we're headed to. But," she pulled back, stroked Denna's cheek like she did before, "it intrigues me. If we can find a way for my network to remain intact on a remote human colony, then I think you'd have to  _try_  to keep me away." She smiled, and Denna pulled her in, hugging her hard for several moments.

"Okay. I have to get back to work. We'll be there in another few hours. You go to sleep, alright?" Liara pulled back a little, pulled Denna off her seat with a yelp, and kissed her hard. She slept very well after that.

* * *

Sanctuary had been a disaster. Well, not a complete disaster – Miranda had survived, Henry Lawson was dead, and they had the data they needed to track Kai Leng to the Cerberus base. No, the disaster was Sanctuary itself, and how many people had lost their lives as test subjects for Cerberus. Samantha was devastated. Her parents had been among those who decided to take refuge at the place, which was why they hadn't communicated with Samantha in many weeks – no communications within the facility. They were now on their way to the Citadel, one last stop for supplies and to speak with the Council before the final assault on Cerberus, and then Earth. Shepard had given Samantha leave from her station to mourn, not knowing what else to do for the woman, other than hold her and simply  _be_  there with her.

But Shepard was injured, lying prone in the medbay, which was full of too many prying eyes, and she couldn't take care of the Communications Specialist at that moment. So she had asked the woman's friends to take over for her. James had quietly led Sam to one of the shuttles, escorted her inside, and left, shutting the door behind him. Denna was now there, having looked for her everywhere else, and had let herself in, mouthing "Thank you" to James before ducking inside. What she found nearly broke her heart – Samantha listless in a chair, not even crying, staring at a photo of her parents in the seat next to her. Denna came up behind her and placed her hand on Samantha's back, causing the woman to look up into her face. The tears spilled over then.

"Oh, Denna, how will I ever…?" She choked on a sob and buried her face in her hands. Denna came around and knelt in front of her, pulling the taller woman forward until her forehead touched Denna's shoulder. Her arms immediately went around Denna's shoulders, and she held on for dear life as her devastation overcame her, wracking her body in great sobs. At one point she slipped off the seat, and Denna found herself almost cradling the woman in her lap while sitting on her knees – much as Liara had done for her months before.

As her sobs subsided into quiet tears, Denna finally spoke. "Hey, it'll be okay, you'll get through this." She continued to rub her back while Samantha hugged her knees, not having anything profound to say, but knowing from personal experience that Samantha probably wouldn't remember the details of what she said later, anyway. "You're strong, you're smart; you'll help us rebuild when this is all over. But it's okay to mourn for now, sweetie."

"I'm completely and utterly useless like this," came Samantha's muffled voice from Denna's lap. "How did you ever deal with it when it happened to you?"

Denna smiled sadly. "I cried in my wife's arms. Then I re-enlisted, got served with notice of my divorce, and then I got drunk and slept with James. I don't recommend it. Well," she added, knowing the joke wouldn't be very good, but trying anyway, "I mean, he  _does_ know what he's doing, so I suppose that part would be acceptable to copy…" Samantha chuckled despite herself. Then James stuck his head in.

"Hey, is everything alright in here? Just wanted to check on you."

"Hey, speak of the Devil." Denna grinned mischievously. Samantha barked out a laugh, and James stood a little dumbfounded before rolling his eyes and disappearing again, muttering to himself in Spanish. Samantha sat back, wiping her eyes.

"I think I'll go back to my station. I need to focus on something other than this. But thank you, Denna. I don't think I could have lost it in front of anyone else, not with Shepard in the medbay like she is." She placed her hand on Denna's thigh, her eyes sincere, most of the tears now gone.

"Hey, no problem. I certainly know what it's like. I'm available whenever you need me, okay? And I hope you don't mind me saying, but you should go to her. Your work can wait – your lover can't." She pushed back, getting to her feet, followed quickly by Traynor.

"I don't mind. I  _do_  want to see her, I just… didn't want to break down in front of Chakwas or anyone else. Some comfort would be nice."

"What, I'm not comforting?" Denna's face showed her hurt to be absolutely fake.

Samantha punched her arm. "Unless you plan on cheating on Dr. T'Soni, then I don't believe you can offer  _that_  kind of comfort! And while I believe you that James 'knows what he's doing,' and he's a tremendous friend, I find him utterly unappealing sexually. So," she finished, straightening her shirt, patting her hair, "I'll retreat to the medbay now, and let you get on with not being on-duty." She left the shuttle, thanking James on her way through with a big, heartfelt hug before entering the lift.

* * *

"Not to be fatalistic about it, but given that we're nearing the end of all of this, there's something I've been putting off, and this may be my last chance." Denna looked at Liara curiously – she was being rather cryptic. "I… I want you to meet my father…" Liara wrung her hands, as she tended to do when nervous or unsure, probably one of the few quirks leftover from the shy archaeologist Shepard had found three years before.

Denna was immediately delighted. "Of  _course_! Ooooo, this will be fun!" She clapped her hands in delight the way that Samantha usually did, then took Liara's face in her hands and popped an exaggerated kiss on her lips. She'd made her way to Liara's office after her conversation with Traynor, playing the guitar softly until Liara was done with the most pressing of her work. She'd told Glyph to inform her only if an agent reported in, and had then come to Denna, gently taking the guitar from her and straddling the woman's lap. Denna didn't seem to mind at all – she now had a beautiful woman in her lap, in her arms. They'd exchanged a few heated kisses before Liara had sat back on her lap and asked her to meet her father.

"I don't know how 'fun' it will be – she tends to do her best to embarrass me. She has a filthy mouth and delights in making me uncomfortable,  _especially_  when it comes to you. So expect many personal questions – you don't need to answer them."

"And if I answer them anyway?" Denna's grin couldn't be mistaken – she, too, delighted in saying things that would normally make Liara uncomfortable, though she held back, saving those types of comments for James, Steve, and Samantha. She had no problem with prying questions, however, and didn't plan to get all shy and flustered. Liara rolled her eyes in response, grabbing Denna's collar and using her leverage to push her back onto the bed, initiating a change from teasing words to teasing actions, leaving them spent and asleep within an hour.

* * *

Denna lay in Liara's arms, her face on her chest. They'd just made love on their way to confront Cerberus. Neither had said it, but they both knew it could be their last time together like this. They simply wanted to be together, experience what normalcy they could.

The visit with her father had gone well, if a little awkward.

Denna smiled into Liara's breast at the most memorable part of the conversation.

_"So this is her, huh?"_

_"Yes, Father, this is Denna, my…" She trailed off._

_"Girlfriend," finished Denna for her with a glance to the side, holding out her hand in greeting._   _Aethyta took it, giving her a very confusing look –_ _did she just check me out?_ _She looked to Liara again – she was busy rolling her eyes._

_"Denna, this is my father, Matriarch Aethyta."_

_They chatted for a bit, sharing a bottle of wine in Aethyta's apartment._

_"So. Who made the first move? This one won't tell me anything interesting." Denna tried hard not to choke, not to lose her composure, as she took her first sip._

_"I, uh…"_

_"Oh, right, all you humans are prudes, I forgot. Good match for my girl here, I guess…"_

_"I'm not a prude, I just… Most humans don't enjoy hearing about their childrens' sex lives…"_

_Aethyta raised an eyebrow, nearly a lost gesture without any visible markings on them. "Well, I'm not human, am I? Liara acts like one when it comes to sex, though. So, you didn't answer my question – who made the first move?"_

_"Really, Father, I don't think-"_

_"She did," said Denna, eyes not leaving Aethyta's face. She had suddenly understood what this was – this was the two of them playing chicken to see if Aethyta approved. She'd just have to explain that to Liara later, as there was no way she could back down._

_"Really?" Denna nodded. "Well, shit, girl. Good job!" Aethyta raised her glass to Liara, who was busy burying her forehead in her hand in exasperation, and drained her glass. "How'd she seduce you? I was always a fan of the direct approach myself, but most of my people get very subtle about it."_

_"Actually, she asked me to dinner," said Denna, which was true – all the stuff with Sheila had occurred_ _after_ _the actual invitation to dinner._

_"And?"_

_"And it was a lovely dinner," said Liara, finally jumping in. "We talked and enjoyed ourselves. We have far too few moments like that with this damned war."_

_Aethyta practically ignored her. "And what about after dinner? Who put the moves on who?"_

_"We, uh…" Denna wasn't sure how much detail to give. "We were interrupted that night." Aethyta practically sighed in exasperation, Liara hiding her blush in her hand once again. "Well, I had to go be manly and weld shit. If I couldn't have sex, at least I got to put on a welder's mask and get dirty," she said, defensively, but also suspecting she might get a little sympathy from the woman, who was clearly a hard-ass, despite the womanly figure. Denna had one of those, too – she knew it didn't mean you couldn't be a hard-ass._

_"Niiiiice," said Aethyta, refilling hers and Denna's emptied glasses. "Well, I'm going to try to stop embarrassing my daughter and trust that you have bedded her by now." She gave a pause, in which Denna took a sip and subtly nodded her head with a slight smirk. "Good. So what's that thing you brought with you? Looks like an instrument."_

Now they were several hours out from Cronos Station. Their lovemaking had been almost desperate in its intensity. They had tried  _so hard_  to put a promise in every kiss, every touch. They hadn't said anything, but when they joined mentally, both noticed the burning hope that this wouldn't be the last time they'd be able to touch each other. Now that they were done, neither seemed to be able to sleep, despite their exhaustion.

Denna finally spoke. "Liara, I know Shepard's taking you with her." Liara sighed, tightening her grip both in Denna's hair and on her back where she had been trailing her fingers along shoulder blades. She didn't say anything, though, simply kissing the top of Denna's head and keeping her face there, taking in her scent. "I know I never say anything, but I almost die every time you go out. Every time I see the scorch marks on your armor or I see the bullet holes where you've almost been shot - or where you have been shot - I can't help but worry that the next time you won't be that lucky. You're not a soldier, dammit!" She rubbed the heel of her hand against her eyes, angry at her tears. "I know what I said about our future, but… I can't bear the thought of having to make a future without you in it. Just… Just come back to me, okay?" She looked up into her face at the last.

Liara's heart had literally skipped a beat. Her feelings for the woman swelled inside of her. She gathered her more closely, murmuring promises to her as she kissed every bit of her face and neck. Their sleep, when it came after a further Joining, was exhausted and dreamless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I lost my mother about two and a half weeks ago. I mention this because, up until then, I had been lucky enough to not have lost anyone. Which means I was writing Samantha's grief completely blind. But look back now, I find that, as least as far as my own experience goes, I wasn't far off. Lots of crying and "how will life ever be normal again." But also interspersed with jokes, and needing to do something to keep the mind at least a little bit busy. So. Yeah.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Denna vaulted herself over the railing, landing safely between two gigantic sets of cables and taking a running leap over a third. Pulling her welder's mask down over her face with gloved hands, she caught the soldering iron tossed to her and immediately began repairing the loose wiring EDI had just told her about.

"We're entering atmo," came Joker's frantic voice.

Denna was incredulous, yelling, "Is that his way of telling us he's gonna push the core  _again_?!"

"Looks like it," Adams' voice responded through her radio.  _Right. I keep forgetting I have one of those_. "I'm sending Tali up there to monitor from the cockpit. Give us some expertise in the driver's seat, if you will."

"Sounds good," she said, this time through the radio on her collar. "Someone toss me more of this stuff. I'm running low."

Ken appeared a second later, chucking a small sack to her before disappearing below the railing to do a similar wiring job. "You'd think we wouldn't have all this wiring to deal with in hard-to-reach places in this century," his thick Scottish accent commented in her ear.

She chuckled. "Yeah, you'd think everything could be wireless. But I guess electricity can't be transmitted that way yet."

"It  _could_  if we all wanted Eezo radiation exposure," Gabby's voice commented.

Denna paused in her work. "You have a fair point, Daniels. I'll stop complaining."

Ken swore, then responded angrily, " _I_  won't stop complaining! Not until they make these crawl spaces  _bigger_!"

Denna shook her head, finished her job, then went to return to her station. As she jumped back up to the railing, though, the ship gave a lurch, sending her sprawling back to the ground. Pain shot through the back of her head as it collided with the floor, slamming her welding mask closed. Her vision went black for a moment, then she saw spots floating in front of her vision.

"Goddammit, Joker, stop piloting this ship like it's a damn bucking bronco," she muttered, pushing herself back to her feet.

EDI's voice came over her radio. "Jeff's piloting is necessary to evade Reaper forces, Engineer Halanz."

Denna sighed. "I know, EDI. I'm just venting my frustration."

She went back to the railing, jumping up and swinging back onto the metal walkway. Depositing her welder's mask and gloves next to her station, she pulled up her terminal, reading the report Tali was sending her from the cockpit.

"Shit. What's going on up there, Tali?"

Tali's voice came over her earpiece. "We're making an emergency stop to pick up the ground crew. They're injured."

Her heart sank. Liara was down there. She tried desperately not to ask the question, but she couldn't not. "How bad, Tali?"

"I don't know. We'll be there soon, Denna." A pause. "I'm sure she's fine."

"Halanz, I need you again. Up on the wall." Adams sighed. "Again. Sorry."

Denna swore, grabbed her gear and a sling, and began her monkey-crawl up the side of the engine room, finding and fixing circuitry problems as she went.

* * *

"But I can still fight!"

Shepard looked at her sadly and shook her head. "One of us needs to go back, Liara." Her sad eyes locked with Liara's through their helmets. "Tell her… tell her I love her." She deposited the wounded asari in James' arms and jumped back to the ground. "Now go! Now!"

"Dammit, Skipper!" Ashley tried to run off the ship, but James deposited Liara on the floor and grabbed her, too, which was good, because her shattered hip gave out just as she passed him.

"Hold on, there, Williams. Can't have you getting' yourself killed because you didn't know when to get some medical attention."

Liara just watched Shepard's helmet disappear, the shuttle bay doors closing the woman off from view. Garrus was down there somewhere, too. Between the two of them, they could do it. They could get to the Crucible and fire it. But Liara was having a hard time letting it go. She had thrown so much work into finding it, into finding the Catalyst, into getting Shepard  _here_  to do the dirty work. It didn't sit right with her, to not be there, to not learn its secrets, to let Shepard possibly sacrifice herself to save the rest of them – again.

A light in her eyes, shining through her helmet, got her attention. "Are you alright, Liara? Does your head or neck hurt?" Dr. Chakwas appeared in front of her as the light vanished.

She shook her head in the negative, and then her helmet was being removed. The light flashed in her eyes again, Chakwas' omnitool lighting up and scanning her electronically as the doctor used her own senses to assess the damage on the asari. Liara let her, feeling listless. She simply could  _not_  take it. She should be down there.

"Dammit Ash,  _stay still_." She looked over to see Ashley trying to surge out of James' arms. He had a tight hold on her, holding her to his chest in an attempt to get her to stay put. "You're just gonna hurt yourself more!"

"I need to  _do_  something, James! I can't just  _sit here_!" She struggled again.

Liara watched him struggle with her a little more, then suddenly his mouth was on hers, and then they were kissing like there were no more moments available to them in the world. Her eyes widened, and she thought faintly that Denna would not appreciate that she was not here for this moment.

"Denna… EDI where is she?"

EDI's voice came to her in her radio. "She is in Engineering, Dr. T'Soni. Shall I open a comm link?"

She shook her head, forgetting that she was speaking over the radio. "I will go down to see her."

"Oh no you won't." Chakwas fixed her with a stern look. "You are to report to the medbay with me. You have shrapnel rooted deep in your leg, and I have to perform surgery to remove it without damaging the nerve it's embedded in. I'm guessing you can't actually walk on this leg right now?"

Liara shook her head, her face darkening in both anger and embarrassment.

"You must be in terrible pain. I'll have Vega…" Chakwas trailed off as she finally noticed the two marines making out next to them. "… perhaps I'll get you there on my own. Vega?"

He pulled away from the Spectre, his eyes taking a moment to focus on the pair of them. "Yeah, Doc?"

"Make sure Lieutenant-Commander Williams makes it to the medical bay as soon as you two are, um… finished. Will you?"

He grinned sheepishly. "Aye-aye, ma'am."

* * *

Denna hung from the wall, swinging freely as she tried to do a delicate re-wiring. "Fuck," she muttered, sucking her finger into her mouth after she'd burned it.

Adams' voice came to her in her ear. "Something wrong, Halanz?"

"Nope. Just forgot my gloves. Burned myself. Nothing serious."

"Alright. Just don't electrocute yourself, yeah? I need my master welder alive."

She snorted. "Aye-aye, Adams."

Finishing the job, she unslung herself and began crawling higher, spotting some sparking wiring that needed immediate attention.

Suddenly, warning klaxons went off. "Prepare for jump to FTL speeds," came EDI's voice. "Entering Mass Relay in thirty seconds."

"Wait, what? Why?"

"Twenty-five, twenty-four, twenty-three…"

"Shit! I'm connected to the wall in here!" She would absolutely  _fry_  if the drive core initiated while she was still in the room.

"Denna, get the Hell out of there!" Adams appeared at the railing. "Now!"

Denna had already slipped out of her sling, dangling from it by both hands as she desperately sought for somewhere to land. "I'm working on it Adams!"

"Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen…"

She cringed at how many seconds had already passed. "Fuck!"

Joker's voice filled her ear, drowning out EDI's countdown. "What's going on down there?"

"Fuck, Joker, I can't-" Denna cut herself off when she landed wrong, spraining her ankle and sprawling, sliding across the floor until the base of the drive core stopped her progress. Shaking her head, she sat up, feeling her ankle with one hand and her head with the other.

"Joker, Denna is  _under the drive core_! Abort the FTL jump!"

"Shit! She's  _under_  the core?! It's too late! I  _can't_  abort now!"

"Ten, nine, eight…"

Denna got to her feet, favoring her bad ankle, and limped toward the railing and Adams' outstretched hand. She should be able to make it. She had  _just_  enough time…


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"What?! What do you mean she's  _under the drive core_?!"

Liara had gone to the medbay with Chakwas, enduring the minor surgery but refusing sedation. The anesthetic was still wearing off when she hobbled out of the medbay, making room for Ashley to receive the medical attention she needed. She was now sitting in the cockpit, monitoring what was left of the ground forces.

But the last thing Joker said had caught her attention immediately.

Getting up, she limped over to the pilot. " _Denna_  is in the drive core chamber? We're about to jump through the relay!"

Joker frantically flicked through his various panels. "Shit, Liara, I know!" He selected one, reading from it. "Shit… I can't do anything about it. The Crucible is going to fire any second." He sat back, sighed.

She was frantic, making to grab at him. A hand grabbed hers, and she whirled around to find Samantha pulling her away from the pilot. "He can't do anything, Dr. T'Soni…"

"Prepare for relay jump in five, four, three, two, one…"

She felt the familiar pull behind her navel. She clung to the communications specialist, desperate to run down to Engineering immediately and yet terrified at what she might find there.

Time slowed, important moments playing in her mind's eye. She saw Denna for the first time, wide-eyed and nervous as Liara cornered her outside the crew quarters. The human woman singing, a song about a man who had drunk too much and gotten himself in trouble. Meeting Denna outside on the Citadel, dog in-tow; running into her now-ex-wife, pretending she was the small human's new love interest.  _Becoming_  the small woman's love interest. She saw their first kiss, their first intimate moment, then their first Joining. She heard Denna's words as she confessed that she was terrified of what might happen to the asari while she was on the ground with Shepard.

"Shit, what the  _Hell_  is that?!"

Liara was lurched back to the present. She still stood in Samantha's arms, the dark-skinned human clutching her tightly so she wouldn't lunge away. They both looked over at Joker, who was desperately flying through his controls. They couldn't see what he could, but something was definitely amiss – the normally blue tendrils of light that surrounded the ship at FTL speeds were intermixed with fingers of red light, and the ship was beginning to jolt a little.

Suddenly, the entire ship gave a huge lurch, sending everyone not seated to the floor.

"Mayday! Mayday! All hands brace for impact! We're going down, people! Mayday! Mayday!"

Liara was incredulous. "Down?! Down to what?"

"There's a planet nearby with a breathable atmosphere. It also has Earth-like gravity," EDI answered.

Liara didn't bother getting up. Not that she could have even if she'd wanted to. The ship careened, sending them all spiraling towards an unknown fate on an uncharted planet below. Until, eventually, the ship ground to a halt.

* * *

A loud beeping filled the air. Liara coughed, pushing herself up, checking herself quickly for injuries. Aside from some serious bruising, however, she seemed to be fine. Looking around, she found that the cockpit was only being illuminated from outside, through the windows. Blinking at its brightness in the dim cockpit, she pushed herself to her feet, looking around further.

She touched her hand to the small radio on her collar. "Denna? Adams? Can anyone hear me?" No answer. She tried instead for the people in the room with her. "Joker? Tali? Samantha, can you hear me?"

"Ow… what?"

"Samantha, are you hurt?" She moved to the woman's side.

"I… something's pinning my leg. I can't move it."

Liara glowed with biotics. "I will get you out." Using the light she generated, she saw that a console had smashed, coming loose enough to fall on the specialist's leg. She enveloped it in dark energy, taking the weight off of it, allowing the human to pull her leg free. As soon as she had, Liara let it go, letting the energy leave her for the moment.

"Are you alright?"

Samantha was probing her ankle and lower leg. "It seems like I'll be lucky enough to just be heavily bruised."

Liara nodded. "Good. I'll check on the others. Our translators appear to be working – see if we have any mass communications or radios within the ship."

"No need to check on me. My suit has kept me perfectly safe. I just was knocked out for a moment."

"Oh, Tali, good. You can help Samantha."

As the quarian got up from the floor, Liara moved gingerly over to the pilot's seat. "Joker, are you alright?" She placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a gentle shake. He seemed to wake from a stupor, blinking and making confused noises. "Joker, can you understand me?"

"Liara… yeah, yeah, I can understand you." His eyes opened further, and he looked around. "What happened?"

"We came down, remember?"

"Oh, right. EDI, damage report."

They were greeted by silence.

He looked over to her chassis, which was limp against its workstation. "EDI?"

Liara moved over, giving its shoulder a shake. There was no response. Jokey slid himself out of his restraints, which had clearly saved his fragile body from serious injury, and gave the chassis a serious shake. "EDI!"

Liara watched him, pity in her eyes. They AI had come to mean a great deal to the pilot. It also reawakened the panic in her heart for Denna.

"We have no communications outside of our translators, Dr. T'Soni," Samantha said quietly. "I barely have this display. I have no idea of the state of the ship."

"It's true. We have almost zero power," Tali confirmed, flipping through flickering HI displays right next to the specialist.

Liara had been quietly holding her panic down, but now it bubbled forth. She ran the three steps to Samantha, looking frantically at her display. "I need to get down there, Sam. She… I…"

Samantha turned, took both her shoulders in-hand, and made the asari look her in the eyes. "I'll help you, Liara. Don't worry." The woman looked over to Joker. "Are you okay up here on your own?"

He looked up from where he'd been staring through EDI's mobile chassis, his eyes coming into focus. "Yeah, go. I'll see what I can do from here."

Neither of them needed him to say it a second time. They were out of the cockpit in three heartbeats, running toward the lift by the flickering galaxy map.

* * *

The hatch opened, revealing a blinking Joker and Liara. They looked around, confirming that the air was indeed breathable. Liara left Joker to get down with Samantha's help, jumping to the floor of what was clearly a jungle, Tali a step behind, and immediately going to find if there was any kind of breach in the hull toward the Normandy's belly. The lift was out of commission, and the access ducts were partially caved-in. They'd found out the hard way, making it to the third level before Dr. Chakwas informed them that the access tunnel in the security room was too clogged to allow them to pass. She held a med kit, and had been hoping to make it to Deck 4 to check on the engineering crew who were most likely to have been injured, in the belly of the ship as they were.

Liara was seriously losing her ability to keep calm. From the outside, on the ground, the ship was huge, and she wasn't even sure Engineering was a section you could detect from the outside like this. She ran and ran, losing hope and then renewing it within herself with every few steps. She heard other footsteps behind her, likely Tali and the doctor tailing her, but she could hardly be concerned with that. She needed to find her. She needed to know how that small human who had come to mean so much to her had fared.

She was in luck, as it turned out. Spotting a breach in the hull, she put on a burst of speed. The hull was partially collapsed here, where the Normandy had crashed into a great tree. The folding of the hull's metal opened a tear in the side, opening into one of the storage rooms. With almost no thought, Liara was encased in blue flame once more, wrenching the rift wide enough for her to make it through.

What she found inside made her heart drop to somewhere near her navel. The reporter, Diana Allers, lay on the floor. If the pool of blood surrounding her head was any indication, she was already dead. She moved on quickly, wreathing herself in dark energy and tearing the partially-opened door open further.

In the hallway, Gabby Daniels was kneeling next to Kenneth, crying, trying desperately to lift a beam from his back. Liara, encased in dark energy as she was, moved it from him with barely a flick of her wrist. She had no attention to spare for the woman sobbing in relief, however. She was on a mission.

Wrenching the door from its frame, she ran in, searching desperately for her love. Engineering seemed to have taken the worst of the damage she'd seen so far, which she supposed made sense, since the ship had crashed on it underside, where Engineering and the shuttle bay were. She distantly hoped no one was still down there.

"Denna? Denna, can you hear me?"

Tali's voice suddenly came to her through the dark. "Liara, do you see anything?"

"No, I cannot see  _anything_. There are broken beams, and the drive core chamber is blocked."

"Here," the quarian said, and then there was a beam of light cutting through the dark and dust. Tali moved next to her, examining the wreck. "Did you get a response?"

She shook her head, moving next to the fallen beams, seeing which she could move without causing them all to fall. "Adams? Are you back there? Can you hear me?"

"Liara? I can hear you, but I can't understand you. I think my translator must have fried. Halanz is back here, but I'm not sure how she is. My omnitool is non-functional. We need to get her to Chakwas immediately."

She did her best to think of what she could possibly say in English, a language she hardly knew any of. "We are coming." That was the best she could do through the haze of her panic. "Tali, what can I move without endangering them?" As she spoke, she lit herself up with biotics once more.

"I think this one," Tali responded, pointing to a beam near the top. "Once it's gone, we'll go from there.

They worked for a few agonizingly slow minutes, clearing the way, beam by beam, Tali telling her what to move, and Liara moving it. Sweat poured down her face, partially from her exertion, and partially because of the humidity seeping in from outdoors. Dr. Chakwas was now at her side, having done what she could for Kenneth Donnelly.

She grunted with exertion, lifting one last beam out of the way. "Okay, stop, Liara. We can make it through now, and I think moving anything else will seriously endanger anyone on the other side."

Liara nodded, quietly thankful that she was done, gingerly extracting the beam and floating it over to the pile she'd made against the wall, setting it down as gently as she could. As soon as it was down, she extinguished the dark energy she had crawling over her skin, breathing a sigh of relief. She looked up to see Adams' face over the remaining debris. He did not look relieved, would not make eye contact with her, instead seeking Chakwas' eyes.

"Dr. Chakwas, I have Engineer Halanz in here. She's badly burned. She needs you now."

Liara's heart sped up at those words. She almost surged forward, but Tali held her fast. "Let Chakwas do her work, Liara. She's her best hope."

Nodding dumbly, only distantly aware of the good sense that made, she allowed the quarian to hold on to her, time going still as Chakwas climbed through to get to the small human who had come to mean so much to the asari.

* * *

"You need to come out of here, Liara."

Denna hadn't woken up, but she was, blessedly,  _alive_. Adams had reported that she had reached him just in time, and he had hauled her out of the chamber just as it had engaged, reacting to the proximity of the relay. The ship had gone down mere seconds after the relay jump, getting knocked out of the relay's mass effect field somewhere between one relay and the next. It hadn't given Adams enough time to pull Denna completely to safety. She'd been burned badly when the ship went down, an electrical fire flaring to life on the wall next to where he'd gotten her, and Chakwas had hurried her away from Engineering to start her care.

That had been three days before. They were stuck with only remedial medical equipment. EDI had still not started back up, leaving Joker a sullen mess. Nobody's omnitool would work. The drive core remained powered down, which meant the entire ship had to be shut down so the medical bay had enough power for the few things they could use. Their translators worked, though, only needing a daily charge by the sun. And they had plenty of food, and the water on the planet was,  _thankfully,_  drinkable. As far as they could tell, it was uninhabited by sapient life, and the few animals the more talented members of their crew had managed to fell – marines and their guns – had proved to be edible. Tali was carefully rationing the dextro supplies on board, pleasantly surprised to find that she had enough rations to last for months. She was also experimenting with local plant and animal life, because it was looking more and more like they would be here for a  _while_.

Liara had initially been glued to Denna's side. Tears had welled in her eyes when she saw her love, burned over most of her body, her hair mostly burned away from the fire. She had sat in the corner and watched as Chakwas had cut her out of her uniform on an operating table, slathering the worst of her burns in medigel and putting her in a static cell. Without advanced medical equipment, there was really no way to tell if there would be permanent damage, to tell if she'd been exposed to any radiation or had any internal bleeding. The only thing they could do now was wait, and hope she woke up on her own.

Chakwas was not without her talents or training, however, setting broken bones and rationing their medigel beautifully, making sure every single member of the crew survived. Now everyone was getting along nicely except for Denna. Liara had finally left the human's side after the first day, going to her office to clean up. She had instead fallen into an exhausted sleep on her bed, not even bothering to take off her clothes or pull the covers back. When she had awoken, she had begun to make sense of her office. None of the equipment turned on, which made sense, as none of the ship had anything more than emergency power. Several of her monitors had fallen and been destroyed in the crash. She had been very surprised to find Denna's guitar unscathed among the displaced cushions to her couch. Tears had leaked from her eyes as she sat with it, doing her best to tune it properly, the way the human had shown her.

She hadn't left her office since.

Now, Tali was in her room, encouraging her to leave, to go see the human who had not yet regained consciousness.

"I… I can't, Tali. I can't get the image out of my head. What if she never wakes up?"

"She's awake, Liara." The words didn't register, so Tali came to sit next to her, taking her hands, forcing her to look at her through the helmet over her face. "She's already awake. You just wouldn't let us in earlier."

Liara's eyes went wide at this information. "What?!" She stood up, making her way to the door. "Why didn't you  _make_  me let you in?!"

"Because," she responded as she hurried to follow the asari. "I had work that needed my attention. We got an emergency beacon working. We can at least let the Alliance know we're alive, maybe see if another ship is somewhere nearby."

Liara knew that was good, but there was really only room for one thing in her mind right now. Denna was awake. She was awake, and Liara had not been there when she woke up. She had been busy wallowing and worrying in her room, instead.

She burst through the curtains they'd hung to the medbay, the door being nonfunctional, and stopped just inside. The sight before her brought tears instantly to her eyes even as relief surged though her: Denna, sitting up in bed, James holding up a mirror, the engineer patting her nearly-bald head, a slight smile on her blessedly unscathed face. Her eyes shifted to the asari when she burst into the room. They filled with light, her face bursting into a grin that Liara couldn't help but mirror.

"There you are."

Liara was paralyzed in a timeless moment. It hit her in that instant just how scared she'd been, just how paralyzing her fear of a future without Denna had been. She couldn't fathom life without the engineer, and she'd only known her a few short months. But she'd been inside her mind, knew her history and her personality almost as well as she knew her own. When she felt the relief of knowing the human would be alright, that she was safe, that she could laugh and smile and wink at her like she had been doing –  _that_ was when Liara realized how great her fear had been. It had been all-consuming.

Liara crossed the space between them in seconds, everyone else in the room melting away. She took both the woman's hands in hers, noting in the back of her mind that they were freshly healed, that Chakwas must have decided to use medigel on them since she was awake. Lifting them, she kissed the back of them, looking down into those green eyes and smiling.

Then, she had her hands on the human's face, her shoulders, her arms, taking the woman into her arms and covering her lips with her own.

She was breathless when she finally pulled away, a smile she could not help on her lips, tears falling unabashedly from her eyes. "You couldn't keep me away if you tried, Denna. I love you. Oh, I love you with my whole heart."

The human grinned. Then she got a shifty look, winking up at her. "Good."

Liara laughed, giving her a little shove before collapsing into the short human's arms, nuzzling her face into Denna's neck, savoring her scent. "You are a scoundrel, Denna!"

Denna just grinned further. "Hey," she said, getting Liara to look her in the eyes, cradling the asari to her chest. "I love you, too. And I'm going to be okay.  _We're_  going to be okay." Her eyes flicked briefly to James, then back to Liara. Her green eyes grew serious, her smile turning from brazen to shy as she looked Liara in the eye. "Marry me?"


	12. Chapter 12: Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Here's the thing. I had two endings that I wrote, one before the alternate endings came out, and one after. And I like them equally well for different reasons. So I'm posting them both, and you all can just decide which one is the ending to this story. Think of it like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel.
> 
> I would be interested in seeing which people like better, which you've decided is the ending in your head, and what you liked/didn't like about each.
> 
> So. Just to be clear. TWO DIFFERENT ENDING OPTIONS. THEY ARE NOT RELATED NOR DO THEY LEAD INTO EACH OTHER. And this, obviously, is the end of this tale. Hope you enjoyed it!

**Epilogue**

**ENDING OPTION 1:**

_Twenty-five Years Later_

The young woman woke with the sun. She roused her mother, who slept beside her, and went to bathe and bring water back for the day's use. When she'd returned, her mother was nowhere to be found. She went about preparing the morning's meal, and by the time it was laid out on the table, her mother had returned, freshly washed.

"Excellent. Go get your father. I will finish."

The young woman hurried off to do as she was bid.

Half a mile away, a middle-aged man and woman lay in their bed, having just made love. Their children were grown, married to other settlers of their growing village, and they reveled in this newfound freedom, which they'd gotten so little of before the children came to them. As they lay panting, the sweat cooling on their exposed skin, they began discussing their daughter's pregnancy.

"The thing is, I really don't know how much help I can be to her during all this…"

"Nonsense! You're her father! Jana loves you! Of  _course_  you're gonna find a way to help her through this. It'll just be different from the way  _I_  can." She smirked. "You'll especially be able to help  _him_  through it. You did it twice with me, remember, big guy?"

He smiled. "You're right." He thought for a minute. "I wonder how Miri will take all of this, though. They grew up together, but Miri is asari – in some ways, she's so much younger than just the number of years after Jana she was born."

"She has her own mother to help her sort that out. But you're right – in a lot of ways she's still a kid, like a young teenager. Though life here has to have grown her up quicker than if she'd been raised on Thessia."

They continued talking for a while, eventually getting up, breaking their fast, and washing at the river before joining the rest of the village in starting the day. Life in the village took on its usual rhythm. Those who fished went fishing, those who hunted went hunting, and those who farmed the land went out to the fields. It was a community that functioned well together. But life would change dramatically, very soon.

The young asari, Miri, and her parents entered the crashed vessel in the middle of the village, as they did most days, to continue the young woman's education. They were accompanied by her father's dear friend, Auntie Sam, who had helped raise the girl. The instruments still functioned, thanks to the continued repairs the woman's parents, aunt, and another friend who was like an aunt made daily. They met this friend, Auntie Tali, already at work, on their way to the mother's office, and they discussed an idea that had occurred to the aunt early that morning. As they spoke, Miri wandered into the old cockpit, where she noticed something strange.

"Mother," she called, looking at a display screen she'd never noticed activated before. "Mother, I think you may want to see this."

"What is it, Miri," asked her mother as she walked into the room.

"I don't know," she answered, pointing at the display.

"Goddess… EDI…"

"EDI?" Her Auntie Tali walked in after her. "But she went offline years ago."

"Apparently not," her Auntie Sam breathed, pulling up panel after panel. "Tali, help me, please." Her Auntie Tali took a station next to the pilot's seat, followed shortly by the girl's father.

"Jesus," her father whispered, swinging through display after display, eyes following lines of code the young asari was only beginning to be able to interpret. "It looks like she's been unable to  _speak_  for years, but she's been running. Look at this – she made contact with a vessel five years ago!"

"Keelah… The ship is here! It has contacted us!" She entered a command, and they heard something no one imagined they would hear ever again.

"SSV Normandy, this is the Asari vessel Gonja. We're getting your distress signal. Come in. Repeat, we're getting your distress signal, and are prepared to send a rescue party. Please respond."

"Christ." Miri looked over to see her aunt very pale, looking into the young asari's father's eyes. "That's… that's  _Shepard's_  voice…"

* * *

**ENDING OPTION 2:**

_Five Years Later_

The little boy ran up to his mother. His curly hair waved in the breeze his running caused. Today was his fourth birthday, and he was letting no one forget it. She hoisted him to her hip when he threatened to crash into her, using his momentum to accomplish the task. He was getting too big for this, given her small frame – sturdy, but small nonetheless. She walked him inside and deposited him on the counter next to his cake. She continued frosting it, slapping his hand away with a laugh when he went to sample the tasty concoction.

"There you are." Liara walked into the room, her hand resting unconsciously on her swollen belly. Her other arm pulled her son into a hug as she kissed the top of his head, repeating the move with her wife. They'd tried to figure out what to call themselves – her people said bondmate, while Denna's used wife. Since they actually did end up getting married, not long after getting Denna pregnant (with James' help in the form of a donation) while repairing the Normandy – they thought they might be stranded forever, and decided they wanted a family – they settled on "wives." Liara now loved the term, having instilled in it the same kind of meaning _bondmate_  had to her.

"When are the guests getting here?"

"In about twenty minutes. But, if I know Diego-" She was cut off by their VI letting them know that a shuttle was landing outside. Liara laughed, taking her son by the hand to go meet James and Ashley outside. He was absolutely thrilled to see his  _tío_  Diego, quite possibly his favorite person in the whole world. And his aunt Ashley, too! The two of them were soldiers, and they were just so cool!

"Hey! Is that… well, Ash, I don't think we can call him a little squirt anymore." A small hand hit James in the thigh. It was rewarded by being grabbed at, and the little boy found himself hanging by the ankles very quickly. He giggled, then laughed out loud as Ashley tickled his exposed belly. "C'mon, squirt, let's make sure your  _madre_  isn't poisoning all of us with her cooking."

"I thought you couldn't call me that anymore," said the boy seriously, looking up at James upside-down through his two feet. "I'm too big."

"I said I couldn't call you  _little_  squirt. You're too big to be little. But you aren't big enough yet for me not to call you squirt." James carried the laughing boy inside, leaving Liara and Ashley to gather the few things she and James had brought with them.

"I trust your journey here was uneventful," said Liara, taking the wrapped gift from Ashley, trying to take more, but having her hands swatted away.

"Yes, blessedly uneventful." Ash gathered hers and James' overnight bags and locked the shuttle with her omnitool. "Being a Spectre and the captain of an Alliance ship have their benefits. I just had the Normandy drop us off and commandeered a shuttle. Then the crew gets shore leave in that sad excuse for a metropolis. What's it called? New Los Angeles?" Liara nodded, walking back up to the house with Ash. "Well, they get shore leave while we're here. Traynor should be by soon – she had someone to pick up in town before she stops by."

"So she and Kelly are still seeing each other, then," said Liara. Ash nodded. "You know, for a while, I was certain Samantha had her eye on Denna."

"Well, I mean, probably she did," said Ash, heading to one of the guest rooms on the first floor and setting her two duffel bags down. "Denna's fun, and if you're into that kind of thing, pretty hot." Liara smirked. "Well, I mean… my point is," said Ash, recovering rather quickly, "Traynor's good enough not to go after someone who's taken. And you, uh,  _took_  her pretty quickly after you met her. And she was caught on your hook way before that. Traynor's not stupid."

"Yes, well. I'm glad she turned out to be such a good friend. I was surprised that she chose to continue to serve on the Normandy, rather than go back to her labs. Especially after…"

Ashley ducked her head for a moment, in remembrance of one of the best friends and COs she'd ever had. "And we were all surprised you continued your brokering over settling the fuck down already," said Ash, smiling. "No rest for the wicked, huh?"

"Indeed. Though having Feron take on more duties was certainly necessary when Kevin was born. And now, well. I may be finding someone else to take on the official mantle if we have more children." She patted her stomach for emphasis.

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of more guests, Kevin running by the door, shouting to his mothers that he hoped it was Aethyta. Liara rolled her eyes and went to greet more guests with her son, leaving Ashley to greet Denna in the kitchen.

* * *

The party was over, the child was in bed, the food was put away, and the guests who would be staying with them were down for the evening. Aethyta had come, as well as Samantha, Kelly, Gabby and Kenneth, Steve and his boyfriend, and Tali, bringing her newborn daughter and her husband, Kal'Reegar, who had been the only one who had been able to help her truly move past the grief of both Shepard and Garrus's passing. Denna did not envy her the need.

Denna sat on the porch with a cup of tea, a second sitting on the porch railing next to her, awaiting Liara's arrival. This was their evening ritual – enjoy the night, sometimes the sunset, on the wrap-around porch Denna had rebuilt with her own hands once they'd reclaimed her family's land. Liara had overseen the installation of modern security measures – they needed it if the Shadow Broker was going to be living there – but let Denna oversee the actual rebuilding. Not much had been needed, but this, the porch – this was an absolute necessity.

"Hello, lover," she said, smiling into her tea as Liara walked up behind her, placing an arm around her waist. Denna couldn't wait until Liara could hold her properly again, but was delighted at the idea of a daughter; a Liara in miniature, no less.

"Mmmmm, I love it when you call me that," Liara breathed into her hair. "Makes me wish I wasn't so tired." Denna chuckled, then handed Liara her tea.

"Well, I'm also way too tired. Party for a bunch of little kids this morning, and then one for the family tonight. What the Hell was I thinking? I had to cook after supervising those kids on horses for  _how_  many hours? Remind me not to be so dumb, okay?" It was Liara's turn to chuckle. Denna was exhausted, yes, but she had enjoyed every second of it, even when she had to wash off the kid who had decided that horse dung was an appropriate place to sit. His mother had been surprised to pick up her son wrapped in a blanket and nothing else, but was understanding. Small children were dumb like that, as Denna had put it.

"Any kicking today?"

"No. But that does not usually begin to happen for another month."

"You're already so huge. Your pregnancy goes for another five months?"

"Yes, but as you already know, I will not grow much more. The asari fetus grows large early, leaving time for the brain to develop at the end of the pregnancy. They are born with the ability to meld with their mothers, something human children do not need to develop."

"Yes, yes, I know. It's just a little mind-boggling, that's all. Our pregnancies have just been so different. You didn't get sick or have swollen feet or anything. But you're pregnant for so much longer, so I guess it's good that it's not quite as uncomfortable."

Liara let go of her wife and took a sip of tea. "Well, not  _as_  uncomfortable but for a longer period of time is not necessarily better." She glanced at her wife, who scowled. "Oh, hush. You enjoyed every minute of carrying Kevin. You've been longing to start a family since your parents passed away. So do not tell me your 'woe is me' stories – I see into your mind, remember? I know what you think about all of this." She gestured around her, and then rested her hand on her belly with an eyebrow raised. "This dusty place, your children, your horses, your house, your farm – I don't think you could be happier anywhere else, doing anything else."

"Well," said Denna, pulling her wife to her and dancing her gently around on the porch. "First of all, they're ours, not just mine." Liara nodded, conceding the point with a smile. "And there's one thing that made it. The keystone, if you will, for the rest of it."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"You, silly." She kissed her wife on the lips, needing to stop dancing to the silent music and pull her head down to reach her over her swollen belly. "You have made me so happy. Thank you, dear." And with that, Liara disentangled herself from her wife, taking her hand and abandoning their tea in favor of their bedroom. She was no longer tired, and wished to show Denna that she made her just as happy.


End file.
